After
by JulianAR
Summary: It's been over twelve years since the war. Naruto is Hokage and happily married to Hinata. Sasuke is still gone, and Sakura is taking care of the child he asked her to raise while he was away-Salada-with the promise of marriage. But there's only so much you can do to a woman's faith in you before she... snaps. An intense epic of NaruSaku. Headcanon. Takes place after chapter 700.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Before:

"You heard 'bout this one article in the Konohagakure Times?" said a rather homely looking man to Teuchi at the Ichiraku, as he served the man a bowl of hot Pork and Ramen. "It says here on page three that recent scientific studies show that it's impossible for a man and a woman to stay just friends."

"Is that so, Nishi?" Teuchi replied. "Sounds silly to me, my daughter has plenty of male friends."

"That's because Ayame is still single, Teuchi," he said with a mischievous wink and a grin, "And my boy, Koro, is one of those friends. Soooo…"

"Never gonna happen," Teuchi denied flatly, "Right, Ayame?"

He turned over to his daughter, who chopped the ingredients at an extra fast pace. She stayed silent, but the blush that reached her ears said it all.

"Didn't Koro have an interview at your shop today, Teuchi?" Nishi said, his grin widening.

"Yes, and I'm still in the middle of them, Nishi. Just because you used to work here doesn't guarantee him a job, he has to get it with his own initiative and skill-"

"I-I hired him," Ayame suddenly interrupted.

Teuchi stared at her, eyes bigger than boiled eggs. _"What?"_

"So the article was right after all!" Nishi laughed. "You two are such an item!"

Ayame waved him away, face redder than a beat, "Stop, we're just friends!"

"Sure you are!" Nishi laughed.

Sakura sat at the end seat of the Ichiraku, slouched onto the counter with a small glass of sake in her left hand, quietly listening to the laughs and banter between the three, who like everyone else, seemed to be enjoying the night as much as everyone else. Fireworks crackled high into the crisp night air over the Leaf Village like paint against a starry pallet. Naruto danced around with the head of a golden dragon, heading the parade of ninja's holding sparklers and streamers down the street. The civilians stood at the side, waving or dancing in place, as every humble abode and alley became filled with the festivity of the first annual Narutofest.

Naruto tossed the head of the golden dragon back towards another shinobi in the parade and dashed towards the Ichiraku.

"One bowl of Beef Miso, old man!" he ordered cheerfully.

"Way ahead of you, Naruto-kun!" he said, sliding the bowl of hot noodles and beef down the counter towards him. The moment it reached his left hand, he picked it up, chopsticks in mouth and bowl to chin, made one long, loud, uninterrupted slurping sound and set the bowl back down completely empty.

"Ah, thanks old man! That really hit the spot!"

Teuchi and Ayame stared at the empty bowl with one eyebrow raised.

"I think you broke your last record by a whole minute," said a stunned Ayame.

"There was a whole boiled egg in that…" said a dazed Teuchi. He lightly nudged Ayame's arm with his forehand. "See, _there's _a man you should marry. He has future hokage written all over him, Kakashi-dono even said so."

"Dad, _stop!_" Ayame whined, even more flustered than before.

Naruto laughed. "Ayame-chan was always cute… but sorry. I'm taken." He smiled while scratching the back of his head nervously.

Sakura took another, large swig of her sake and no one paid any attention to her. _Here we go again… _she thought.

"What? How could this be?" Teuchi said, "Who's the lucky girl?"

Naruto held back his joyous laughing as much as he could to stay subtle, shushing them and motioning to keep their voices down. Ayame, Teuchi and Nishi leaned in closer to hear what Naruto wanted to whisper to them.

"Don't tell anyone, but…"

_You're proposing to Hinata._

"I'm gonna propose to Hinata!"

Teuchi and the rest all made surprised faces and clapped for him. "What a lucky girl! To date the hero of the war!"

"Don't celebrate it yet," said Naruto, "I dunno if she'll say yes or no… I'm a little nervous, actually."

_So nervous you're telling everyone in Konoha._

"Of course she'll say yes!" Nishi cheered, "Who wouldn't say yes to the hero of the war?"

"Thanks old man Nishi," Naruto replied. Then he turned his head and, as if she were the one to just now come along, he noticed Sakura slouching at the end of the counter right next to him.

"Whoa! Sakura-chan! Did you just shunshin no jutsu your way over here or something?"

"I've been here, Naruto."

"O-Oh. Sorry."

"You're fine," she said, taking another sip of sake. "I never got to say congratulations, by the way."

"T-That's okay, Sakura-chan. Like I said, I haven't even done it yet, there's nothing to celebrate."

"Yeah. Let me know when you finally do. I'd love to see it."

Naruto stood there and stared at her blankly for a couple moments. Then he crossed his arms and scowled. "Let me treat you to a festivity game. The shuriken toss! It's really hard, but I can beat it now, I've won the big prize like, ten times!"

"No thanks, Naruto," said Sakura, "I'm good here."

"No way!" Naruto exclaimed, "This is no way to spend an evening on a fun night!"

"Naruto, I—"

"There's Takoyaki in the stall right across the street here, too! You gotta try it out, it's the best I've ever tasted!"

"Naruto, please, I just want to—"

"And the best fireworks are yet to come! The big one is gonna be in the shape of Kurama! Can you believe that? You gotta come and—"

"_Naruto!"_ Sakura snapped. She wasn't even aware of the look on her face, but it was clearly enough to actually kill the joyous look on him. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. I just… I'm fine here, okay?"

He looked at her with sorrowful eyes, and then pulled away.

"Okay," he muttered, "Sorry." He left money on the table next to the empty bowl of Miso and Teuchi took it.

"Well, I should get going," Nishi announced, putting away his newspaper, clearly trying to avoid an awkward situation.

Sakura let of the glass of sake for the first time that night and massaged her hand. Her fingers ran across a beautiful diamond ring on her left hand that she fiddled with sadly.

"Still not back yet, huh?" said Teuchi, washing a glass.

"He will be. He said he will." And with that she gripped the glass again with her ring hand. "Another sake please. And leave the bottle."

After:

"Sakura, please, take care of her."

In front of her he held a child. It didn't seem right. It didn't _feel _right. It wasn't even _hers_. But against her better judgment, she took it. A well of sorrow filled her chest, gripped her throat and threatened to spill from her eyes.

"H-How can you… how can you ask me to do this?" Sakura asked, taking the child. She looked upon its bare face, its features resembling no one she knew except him.

"I know this isn't fair… and I swear, I'm so sorry, but… please. I know you can do this."

He bent down on one knee in front of her, holding a beautiful diamond ring. The rest of the world's glow dimmed in comparison.

"I will be yours if you do. Take it."

One arm holding the child, the other reaching for the ring, she took it, and he stood up, smiling.

"Thank you," he said. And the door slammed shut.

Suddenly, the ring from her hand morphed into a long chain and shackles that wrapped itself around her arms to her shoulder. The child she held had disappeared. All the walls around her, gone. She stood in a shallow pool of blood up to her ankles. The cry of her child echoed from all directions.

"Salada?!" she cried, "Salada! Where are you?!" She yanked the chains as hard as she could, and it took all her might, but she finally broke free of them.

As she looked at her hands, tribal markings spread across them. Her knuckles were soaked in blood, running down her wrists and over all the tattoo's that spread across it.

"Wha… what?"

She looked down, past her arms and to the pool of blood on the floor. There, sitting in the blood, lied a leaf village headband with a slash across it.

She tried her hardest to scream, but nothing came out.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Sakura screamed, arching her back in bed. Her skin stung from the shock of the dream that woke her up so violently. Her grip on the edge of the bed nearly tore the threading apart.

She fell back onto the bed, breathing heavily. Sweat trickled down her skin and onto the pillow. Another bad dream. If this kept happening, everyone was going to notice the circles under her eyes and start badgering her about her health. Another drip to the drug store, she supposed.

The door creaked open. Salada peeked through the crack at her.

"Mom?" she called.

Sakura lied still, face towards the spinning ceiling fan. "What."

"I can't go to sleep. Can you make me some tea?"

Sakura exhaled, her body fatigued by her dream, but she got out of bed with no objection.

She walked out into the living room of the two bedroom apartment and into the kitchen. Her eyes half closed, she opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a jug, filling up a tea pot. Then she heated it up on her coil stove until it whistled for her to get it.

She poured it for Salada who replied with an "arigato," and brought it to the table, while Sakura pulled out a jug for herself and poured it into a cup. It tasted like water.

"Ew, mom! This is your sake! What the hell!"

"Huh?"

Suddenly, the alarm outside rang through the streets.

"Shit," she muttered, eyes wide open. "Salada, you stay here, mommy's got a job to take care of."

She rushed into her bedroom and swiped up her equipment before dashing out the door at high speed, with just enough time for Salada to shout at her, "What about my tea, dammit?!"

Bursting through the front door of the apartment complex and rushing down the streets, she knew that living in the new rural area of the Leaf was a bad idea, being constantly on watch for the prison escapees that were contained 'just' on the other side of the city. If she had stayed in the village she wouldn't have had to deal with this so often.

And she knew exactly who it was, too. The same one that did it to her every time.

"I swear I'm gonna kill you this time, Karin, you raging fucking _thundercunt_!"

Her unmistakable red hair poked the corner of an alley coming from the new high-security prison established to be 'inescapable.' No so much lately.

Sakura hopped, skipped and jumped over fences and off the sides of large buildings trying to catch up to her. She was thinking of escaping north this time. Not a wise move. Every border of the city would normally be crawling with security checks and the like, and Karin wasn't known to be the most silent of nin, let alone escape artists. Suddenly, two figures appeared next to Karin and caught Sakura off guard.

"Dumb bitch, you didn't even know you were being followed?" said one.

"Wha-? Suigetsu? You're supposed to guard my right, idiot! I can take care of what's behind me!"

"Like you took care of her the last three times, right?"

"Don't worry about it," said the other, who pulling back his cloak's hood revealed him to be Jugo. "I'll keep her occupied, so you get as far ahead as you need to."

_That's cute, _Sakura thought, _They think they can get away this time. _

"I'll give you one warning," Sakura shouted at them, "I really don't want to make a mess of the city fighting you guys."

Suigetsu smiled. "That's your problem." He pulled the giant Seversword from his back, swung it and destroyed the front end of a passing car. "This entire city is your weakness."

The car flipped in the air from the force and threatened to crash back down violently enough to kill the screaming woman inside. Sakura effortlessly dashed right under the point of contact and caught the car, gently placing it down on the ground.

Suigetsu, however, decided that it was an excellent weakness to exploit. While her back was turned, he dashed behind her and swung the Seversword down to slice her in half, but a dark glint in the corner of her eye told Suigetsu at the last millisecond, that was a big mistake.

Sakura barely shifted one foot, leaving a millimeter of space between her and the blade as she dodged it, and as he crashed down on her she thrust a kunai up into his abdomen. Just as she suspected, he liquefied it to reduce the damage—but she was already a step ahead. And that step allowed her enough room to pull back and roundhouse kick the Seversword into Suigetsu and send him flying—until his abdomen, where she had placed the kunai with an explosive tag wrapped around it, exploded.

Once again, he shape shifted his nearly immortal body from a liquid mess back into his physical state, picking the blade back up, but hesitant to attack again.

Next in line to attack, however, was Jugo. Not quite as tactical, but definitely not as easy either. All he ever did was shift into his curse mode, where he bulldozes his way towards her with incoherent rage, just as he was doing now.

Sakura took stance in front of him, ready to bump fists. Without warning, he flash-stepped in front of her. She turned around, and just as she thought, there he was above her, a fist just an inch from her face. Before she could do anything to dodge, however, he already disappeared from in front of her again.

A loud crash resounded back onto the road. Naruto had rushed Jugo with a rasengan before he could hit Sakura, grabbed him and tossed him midair into the pavement, creating a crater.

"See what you did?!" he shouted at Jugo, "That's coming out of the park budget I had planned for this fall! It was going to be the perfect place to eat ramen! And because of you idiots—" as he fell towards Jugo, he did so with both feet forward for a crushing stomp, "—Now I have to _wait!_"

Naruto created further damage to the surroundings by pile driving his feet into Jugo and deepening the crater. Jugo, while gasping for breath, did not lapse in rage for even a moment. Grabbing Naruto's legs, he flipped him forward to escape his weight and turned himself over to take the advantage of the higher ground. Naruto, however, did not flinch.

"Don't make me kill you, Jugo," he said calmly, a dangerous look in his eyes. Strangely enough, it caused Jugo to hesitate for a split second, long enough for a shadow-clone to flash step above him and drive a rasengan into his side.

Jugo collapsed onto the cement, struggling to get back up. Naruto landed on his toes, along with twenty other clones flash-stepping behind him, and then disappearing again. It seemed like he was everywhere, clones flash-stepping to one spot and then to the next. Before Jugo could discern which ones were closest, it was already too late, and he got launched in the air with the famous Naruto Uzumaki Combo, and dropped with the fourth attack.

Jugo hit the cement like a cannon ball at the ground. Finally, he laid very still, the natural chakra that morphed his body regressing. Naruto shot a glance Suigetsu's way, and he clicked his tongue before dashing off.

Karin looked around anxiously for a way to escape, but she knew all too well that there was no escape when you were trapped in the gaze of the Seventh Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki.

"Karin," Naruto called, "What are you doing out of your cell? _Again?_"

Karin sweated bullets attempting to laugh it off. "I-I just wanted to say hi to the guys, you know. They came to visit and were like… hey, Karin… let's go outside! You're the hokage's cousin, he won't mind at all! Right, Naruto? That's… totally cool… right?"

Naruto remained unamused. He motioned forwards with two fingers for ANBU operatives to appear from the shadows, and six of them flash-stepped behind Karin, binding her arms. Ten more appeared next to Naruto to bind Jugo, even though he was unconscious.

"This is ridiculous!" Karin protested, "We're blood! How can you treat me like this and let HIM roam around free?! You hypocrite! What kind of shitty hokage are you?!"

The ANBU finally bound her mouth, but even through the binds she continued to curse Naruto as she and Jugo were taken back to the prison.

Sakura walked up to Naruto's side. "Don't listen to her, you have reasons for everything you do."

"Thanks, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, with a smile, "But I don't need reassurance to put that annoying bitch behind bars. I mean, geez."

"Well then I should get to thanking you for having my back there. I did not want to go back home to my kid with a bruised face."

Naruto laughed. "That punch was a mile away from landing. Even if I did nothing I'm sure you would have handled it nicely."

"Oh? Then why did you decide to help me?"

"I just wanted to take out a little frustration on them. Himawari woke up crying when the alarm went off."

"Oooo, bad luck."

"No one ruins my baby girl's sleeping face."

The two of them talked while walking back to their respective homes together. Sakura seemed to easily temper him with her mere presence, his smile easily stretching from ear to ear while they talked. He had the biggest grins she'd ever seen, it was ridiculous. And somehow charming.

_"Hokage-sama! Hokage-Sama, it's an emergency!" _

A group of Jounin rushed over to the two, waving the arms about wildly at Naruto. At the head of the group was Konohamaru.

"Hokage-Sama!" he repeated, "Quickly! You have to come! Kiba's finally come back… but… his whole group is missing… and so is _half of his face."_

Naruto took a deep breath. "Looks like we're getting no sleep tonight, Sakura-chan."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Before:

"How long has it been since you last came to the village? Two years? I'm glad you at least came to visit us again, Sasuke-kun."

Sakura cradled Salada in her arms in front of Sasuke, his face ever stoic. He may have been leaving the village once more, but the warmth he provided standing so close to her in that moment alone was enough to keep her going strong for another whole year.

"I won't be back again on the same day," he told her, stroking little Salada's small cheeks, "Take care of her. She's… the most precious thing to me."

Sakura looked up into his eyes, which were fixated on Salada. All she had ever wanted to see was his outer shell crack. And thanks to this little child, it seemed so real. Could he actually live normally? Was it possible?

Sakura looked down at Salada herself. He was right. What a precious gift. It didn't matter where it came from, did it? It made bringing them together happen. They would be… she could even dare to think it now, but not without blushing… a _family._

"It's okay. I'll wait for you. I know you'll come back, I have faith." Sakura smiled at him, and for the first time that day, they actually met each other's eyes. It sent chills down her spine. He hadn't looked at her in two years. She could have cried.

"Thank you," he said, before turning his back to her, and leaving through the open door of the old, barren apartment. She sat down on the old couch in the small, colorless living room. The sound of something small scampering inside of the ceiling briefly caught her attention.

Then the door shut behind him. And… she was lonely again.

The air grew stale with silence. "I can wait as long as I need to," she said, rifling through her purse on the couch and pulling out a bottle full of formula. "You're so lucky to have been born when you were, aren't you, little Salada?" She poked her nose before sticking the bottle in her toothless little mouth. "Nothing but days of happiness ahead of you, thanks to the peace Naruto won."

After:

"_Move! Move! Move!"_

Naruto led a rush down the hospital wing with a crippled Kiba, lying on a rolling bed with a breathing apparatus strapped to his mummified head. Hinata pushed the head of the cart as fast as she possibly could. Sakura pulled the side of the bed whilst trying to maintain a stable status with Kiba's pulse. Shino followed close behind for support.

The moment they reached the emergency room, Hinata brushed Shino to the side and applied the mystical palm technique to his chest and abdomen. Three more nurses rushed into the ER by Sakura's side. She flipped a kunai out of her belt and dug it into Kiba's vest next to the broken zipper, ripping it all open to reveal a mass of blood over his skin.

Kiba began screaming hysterically through the bindings around his face, causing everyone in the room to jump.

"I think he's conscious!" Naruto shouted.

"Anesthetic," Sakura prompted, holding her hands out as a nurse filled a syringe to give to Sakura. She jammed it into Kiba's arm and he went from screaming to hyperventilate breathing. "Keep him stable, Hinata."

"I'm trying!" she cried, her face showing nothing but nerve-wracking concern for her teammate. The gaping wound at Kiba's side was filled with dirt and debris.

"Nurse, I need you to lift his side," Sakura commanded, and without hesitation she left the tool prepping to the other nurses and immediately complied with Sakura's orders. Sakura used a set of wiping hand motions with the mystical palm technique to clean the outside of the wound.

"It's not enough, there's large debris inside him, in particular this one fucking _huge _piece of bark that I have no idea how the hell got stuck so deep inside of him. We're gonna cut him open wider, I need to slow down his heart rate. Nurse, liquid verapamil, stat."

"Got it," she said, filling a syringe and handing it to her as she yet again jammed it into Kiba's side.

"Nurse, hand Sakura a scalpel," Hinata ordered.

"No, we don't have time to be delicate," Sakura explained as quickly as she could, "In case you didn't notice right off the bat, he has severe internal bleeding, and I need direct access to the damaged organ in order to heal it on time, especially once we remove the bark."

"But how are you going to get to the wound?!" Hinata asked exasperatedly.

"With my fingers." Everyone in the room became silent, with the exception of Kiba's loud moans. Sakura fitted her hands with latex before reactivating the mystical palm healing technique. "This is gonna get messy, people. Stand back."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

The anesthetic did next to nothing in the moments after, as the ER sounded like a torture room with Kiba's animalistic cries, terrifying every nurse and patient on the hospital floor.

Eventually it began to subside, the quiet after being a moment that practically stung as the reality of what happened finally began to sink in.

Sakura sat back into a seat in the corner of the room, pulling the latex gloves off of her fingers, and exhaling all the breath she had been holding in.

The rate at which the heart-monitor beeped became rhythmic and steady. "He's stable."

Hinata continued to use the mystic palm healing technique on him as a sedative. She looked at his bandaged head and did all she could not to cry.

"Well… let's look at his face," said Sakura.

One of the nurses gently removed the bloody wrappings. Halfway undone, Hinata turned her head away and scowled, focusing only on his body.

His nose looked as if it had been grated and laid crooked between his eyes. All the skin next to it wasn't even there, anymore, as if it had been completely torn off. His cheekbone stuck out from the displaced muscle and stretched tendons that were left of his cheek. His eye bled just as red as the rest of his head, and his ear was nowhere to be found.

Sakura turned away, pinching her fingers between her brow and squeezing her eyes. "That's not gonna heal back right…"

Naruto and Shino could only look at him with sorrow.

"Am I still as dashingly handsome as I used to be?" said Kiba, just coming to, trying to smile with the other half of his lips.

Hinata smiled, face full of tears.

"Still a grade-A lady killer," Naruto laughed, but with slight bitterness.

Kiba tried to keep his smile, but he couldn't hold back a groan, "I'll never get Ayame at the ramen shop to fall for me now. Koro has me beat in looks too."

Although the rest of the room was quiet, Hinata tried to let out a laugh, but instead it turned into a breakdown of sobs over his wounds.

Naruto went over to put his arm around her shoulder to console her, and Sakura walked up to Kiba, gently putting Hinata's hands aside and taking her place.

"Kiba, can you… explain what happened?" she asked, activating the mystical palm healing technique over his wounds.

He laid silent, but she could see him gritting his broken teeth, as if being reminded of these certain memories was something cruel.

"Kiba?" said Naruto, trying to follow Sakura, "What the hell happened? You were just supposed to gather information at the boarder of the Land of Sound. Where is your team?"

Kiba strained to turn his head to him, lips pursed, one eye wet with tears ready to break free of his swollen eyelid. "They're all _dead_."

Naruto's eyes filled with anger and he leaned forward onto the bed. "Who?"

Kiba shook his head. "Not who… it wasn't a ninja."

"Then what? If it wasn't anyone from the sound, then what wasit?"

Kiba's fingers gripped the sheets. "It… it ate Akamaru… ripped his head clean off…"

"Kiba, _what?_"

"_The Tengu._"

Naruto's eyes widened, and he slowly pulled back from Kiba.

"The Tengu?" Sakura asked, "You're saying you were attacked by some sort of creature from ancient religious lore attacked you and killed your team?"

Kiba remained silent. Sakura looked at Naruto, rested his head on his folded hands, nervously contemplating something that she wasn't quite getting.

"One thing is for sure," Naruto muttered, "Tomorrow's Gokage meeting is going to be interesting."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

The following morning, Naruto called Sakura up to ask her for an accompaniment to the Gokage meeting.

"_Shikamaru is still out there. On the same mission as Kiba was with a different group, no doubt. Makes me nervous. Do you mind?"_

"Not at all! I'll be there in twenty!" Sakura replied over the phone. A small, elated feeling rose into her chest. She really didn't spend enough time with Naruto. Lately he had been busier than ever, and that left her with nothing to do during her free time, except hit up Ino about a night on the town. But even Ino was busy with married life more often than not. Occasionally, she would get so bored that she almost wanted to be paged back to the hospital.

She left her apartment and headed to the center of the city by the brand new Kage Tower, where the meeting was being held.

"You look a bit more professional than usual today, Sakura-chan," said Naruto, fully dressed in his own Hokage garb.

"This is how I always dress, dumbass," she grumbled.

"That's Dumbass-sama, to you," he chuckled, and they both walked in together.

When the double doors to the conference room at the top of the building opened, the four other Kage were already seated, bodyguards at their sides, waiting for the two of them.

"Well, I'd say you're on time for once, Naruto-dono," chuckled the Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi, "I only had to wait five minutes after seating myself."

"Indeed," added the Mizukage, Choujuurou, "I daresay he's getting the hang of this Hokage thing."

"One more minute and I woulda left," the Raikage, Darui said lazily.

Gaara sat quietly between Darui and Kurotsuchi, sending irritated looks at Darui every now and again.

"Thank you for coming, everyone," said Naruto, seating himself. Sakura stood at his side, hands behind her back, carefully inspecting all the others. "We have a lot to discuss. First thing's first. Has anyone received word from the Hidden Sound?" Darui, Chojuurou, Kurotsuchi, and Gaara all gave the same resounding answer.

"Nope."

"No."

"Not a word."

"I have not."

Naruto sighed, and motioned to take a stack of papers from Sakura, which he straightened out on the table and flipped through. "Very well. Then we're cycling Karin through the capital prisons again as a prisoner of war. Until one of us hears word from Orochimaru about a proper cease-fire agreement between him and the Five Great Shinobi Countries, she will remain a bargaining token for the agreement." Naruto passed a single sheet of paper to all the Kages. "Please sign this to approve of the annual prison transfer."

_Finally, _Sakura thought, _We're getting rid of that bitch._

"Hey, how many times did she escape this year?" Darui asked, grinning.

Both Sakura and Naruto's expressions suddenly looked drained. The other Kage laughed.

"Your faces say it all," said Chojuurou, signing his paper, "Honestly, though, I find it a bit tedious at this point. Its clear Orochimaru does not care either for his people or to have diplomatic relations. According to him, he doesn't need us to recognize whether he is a legitimate country or not."

"He cares, I assure you," said Naruto, filling his own paper out, "It's just more like he cares not to let a good experiment go to waste."

"I'd prefer we didn't bank on assumptions," said Kurotsuchi, "This is a woman's life you're wasting away on your desire to keep democracy between a great country and a country that barely exists on its own."

"First of all," Naruto interjected, "That country that barely exists on its own caused a massive war between itself and the Hidden Leaf. Second of all, I made sure to keep Karin's confinement comfortable—if she would stop breaking out, of course-and I trust that all of you do, too. It's just as much Orochimaru that is keeping her locked up as we are."

"You honestly bother keeping your prisoners comfortable? Why don't you just make her a citizen?" Chojuurou asked.

"For the same reasons you wouldn't, Chojuurou," Gaara interjected, "Don't be stupid."

"She's not my blood," Chojuurou argued, "So of course I would have no reasons."

"Citizenship means the right to come and go as you please, Chojuurou," said Naruto, "and I can't risk assuming that her loyalty to blood is stronger than her loyalty to the Sound. That should be obvious in the way she constantly tries to escape. I'm not risking her leaving with any secrets from my village to a country we haven't solidified good relations with yet."

"I disagree; I'm speaking up now," said Kurotsuchi, "Holding prisoners of war hostage will only give the Hidden Sound a reason to attack."

"Oh, right, like the way they have the past thirteen years?" Darui mocked. "They're not going to stage an offensive over one little prison bitch."

"You don't know what they could be planning. And besides, I hear we have a new prisoner from the Hidden Sound. Jugo, was his name? I understand you've caught him recently trying to help Karin escape, Hokage-dono."

"That's correct," said Naruto, "I will be handing out more paperwork for him if we come to an agreement to transfer him prison to prison annually as well. Obviously not with Karin, I want to keep those two as separate as possible."

"There you go," said Kurotsuchi, "A brand new reason for them to come and attack this village within the thirty days it takes to transfer the both of them. They could consider us hostile and untrustworthy, just like—"

"Just like we consider them?" Gaara interrupted, "You're missing the point, Kurotsuchi-dono. We have no obligation to prove anything to them beyond not using our combined strength to crush them. It's they who need to prove to us they are willing and ready to cooperate, as we have reached out and offered to be. If they find us threatening, they have that to consider."

"I think _you're _missing the point, Kazekage-dono," Kurotsuchi argued, "There is more than one way to skin a cat, and they know this. We don't have to take hostages to achieve diplomacy! How could they not hesitate to sign a peace treaty to someone who uses tactics like this?"

"For thirteen years, Kuro?" Darui shot, "Do you not understand the amount of time that has passed for them to make any kind of move?"

"And that's thirteen years of a human life that we've wasted away for nothing more than attempted conspiracy! The punishment does not fit the crime! At this rate it will be a life sentence! We're punishing a woman for something that won't make a lick of difference!" She shot a glare at Naruto. "This is _not _the kind of peace I eagerly followed and respected when I allowed my country this diplomatic relation."

"That's because you're naïve," said Darui, "In the end, we're going to have to destroy them, like it or not."

Everyone stared at Darui, silently, and he looked at each one of them in the eye. "The Hidden Sound isn't going to do anything. It's clear they intend to remain hostile with the rest of the world, they haven't even gone as far as to ask for an exchange of goods from us in any shape whatsoever, yet they continue to cross into our boarders like its nothing. If we're going to make this peace thing work, then we have to crush what doesn't."

"Darui," said Naruto, who had to stop writing to pay attention, "When the time comes to oppose them, we will have the higher ground. Do you understand?"

"You too, huh?" he replied, "Of course, I should have expected it from the peacekeeper himself."

"I asked you a question."

"And I don't like the tone of your voice."

"Gentlemen, settle down, we're at a meeting," Gaara intervened, but the two of them kept staring at each other with poisonous looks as if the first one to break eye-contact would admit to being weaker.

"Hello?" said Sakura, waving a hand in front of Naruto's face. He blinked rapidly as if awakening from a trance.

"U-Uwuhh… Sorry. Anyways, is everyone done filling out their papers?"

"No," Kurotsuchi said bluntly, "I was a bit too busy trying to change your narrow minded opinions."

"Please be civil, Kurotsuchi-dono," said Chojuurou, "I appreciate your compassion, and I mean no disrespect, but you cannot allow such compassion for such trivial things get in the way of proper decision making. I agree that Karin is untrustworthy, and while I would not go as far as to make her comfy in my own country being a prisoner, letting her go could prove to be a fatal mistake."

"We always make her comfy, don't we, Omoi?" Darui snickered, nudging Omoi with his elbow, getting him to laugh nervously. Kurotsuchi locked her eyes on Darui. Sakura couldn't help but narrow her eyes at him as well. She could practically hear Kurotsuchi grinding her teeth. She couldn't help herself anymore, and decided to open her mouth.

"What's that supposed to mean, Raikage-dono?"

Darui's snickering quieted down as he stared at Sakura's dark gaze, the slow transfer from grinning to alarmed at the way she looked at him caused a hesitation in his voice.

"…Tell your bodyguard to mind her business when all the Gokage are speaking, will you, Naruto?"

Sakura noticed how hard Naruto was struggling not to make eye contact with Darui again. She could tell by the way his muscles tensed under his shirt.

"No, no I'm actually genuinely curious now, Darui. Do you mind answering? What _does _that mean?"

"It means we get along, blondie."

Now she could hear him grinding his teeth as well.

"Weird, considering just the other day she begged me not to transfer her to the Hidden Cloud Prison like we were scheduled to do today. All in favor of transferring Jugo to the Hidden Cloud Prison in place of Karin?"

There was a unanimous "Aye," from every Kage aside from Darui, especially from Kurotsuchi who spoke it particularly angrily.

Darui sat and stared at the others in shock. "Well, fuck you guys, too."

"I eagerly await the day you get impeached by your own people, Darui," Kurotsuchi spat.

Gaara shook his head, "Darui, what in the world happened to you in the past thirteen years?"

"Personal issues is a great idea to discuss at a Gokage meeting, let's discuss personal issues," Darui said sarcastically, "Let's start with you, Gaara, did you mass murder any villages recently?"

"That's _enough,_" said Naruto, raising his voice above everyone else's, "We have other topics to discuss." Naruto pulled out a bag from his pocket with a strange looking syringe. It was black and conical up until the tip where the needle poked out. Its contents weren't made to be visible past the grainy black texture of the cone.

"One of my men came in yesterday from a mission at the boarder of the Land of Sound. He had gone with a group of five and came back alone, with a piece of tree inside him and half his face torn off."

The group was quiet.

"He said it was a Tengu," he concluded.

"Is this related to…?"

"I don't know. But it can't be a coincidence. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I want Tengu Blood off the market. I refuse to deal in exports with any country that has this, so I'm closing down all logistic communications until that happens."

"Fine with me," said Darui, "Ain't nothin' you guys got that I can't provide for my own country."

"Good for you, Darui," Naruto replied.

"This is bullshit," said Kurostuchi, "You're already contradicting the peace that we have as a Union by shutting us out over a stupid drug! There's multiple different ways it can get past your boarders, don't you see?"

"Do you plan on criminalizing the drug or not?" Naruto asked.

"Well, of course, I—"

"Then there isn't a problem. And considering how close to the boarder of the Sound that I found it, if we can put this thing down before it starts becoming a problem, it could be Karin's get out of jail free card. Think about that."

"I have a problem with it," Chojuurou said, "These Tengu. I know what you speak of. One attacked my village. It was incredibly tough, and the only way any of us had the power to fight against it was when we used the confiscated supply of Tengu Blood we had." Now the room was completely focused on Chojuurou speaking.

"For real? There were actual demon things out there?" Darui picked up the bagged syringe. "Is this stuff like, _actual_ blood from some mythical being we've never encountered before?"

"Of course not, its synthesized growth enzymes made to manipulate natural chakra in strange ways," said Naruto.

"Like Jugo?" Gaara asked.

"Oddly enough… yes."

"That… doesn't put good ideas in my head."

"I know," said Naruto, "and that's what I'm worried about. If there's a connection between the Tengu Blood and the Tengu that have been showing up and attacking us, then we could be dealing with a serious epidemic on our hands..."

Everyone in the room stayed silent, not sure what to say next.

Then Gaara decided to finally break the silence.

"Naruto," he called, "Did you consider what we talked about in the last meeting?"

Naruto lifted his head to give Gaara his attention. "What? About the village? I told you, Gaara, don't worry about it, the village is fully supported."

"I see," said Gaara, and he folded his hands together back in front of his mouth.

"Well, it's a bit early, but—I think it's time for a ramen break!" said Naruto. Without hesitation everyone rose from their seats and turned to walk out the door and head to the cafeteria. Sakura walked behind Naruto, picking through her purse and curious if she should get him something.

"So, we're going to keep Karin here?" Sakura asked. Although she was happy she wasn't sending Karin off to the Hidden Cloud, it still disappointed her that she would have to deal with Karin's break outs three times a month.

"Better here than anywhere else," said Naruto, "I'd keep her locked up here forever if I could."

"What?" said Sakura, surprised, "Why the hell would you do that? Kurotsuchi is right, even if she is a criminal, you can't just keep her locked behind bars forever, she doesn't deserve that!"

"Kurotsuchi doesn't know Orochimaru like we do, Sakura. She's naïve. And especially with everything that's happening, I'll do all I can to keep Karin away from that man."

A hand fell on Sakura's shoulder and caught her by surpise.

"Sakura, do you have a moment?" Gaara stood behind her, eyes glossed over with the same look he had before Naruto ended the meeting. Sakura became slightly suspicious that it he wanted to talk to her about the same thing.

Naruto stared at Gaara for a moment, and then glanced at Sakura. She looked at him curiously, asking if it was okay.

"Go on, I'll jump ahead to the cafeteria," he said, waving them off and walking away.

Sakura turned towards, Gaara, slightly agitated. She wanted to buy Naruto something and now she missed her chance.

"What is it, Gaara-kun?" She asked as humbly as she could. She couldn't help furrowing her eyebrows, however.

"Sorry," he said, "But I need your help. It's about the Leaf Village."

"I had a feeling," she replied, "You know I'll go out of my way to help if I can, but…"

"You can, otherwise I wouldn't come."

"Okay, shoot."

"I need you to convince Naruto to cease the expansion of the city."

"What?" said Sakura, dumbfounded, "Why?"

"Because the village is suffering. Have you looked around it lately? It's much different from thirteen years ago. It used to be so profitable, but now it's regressing into nothing more than a _slum_. It's become poor, Sakura. And I can't deny that part of it is because of the fact that it used to profit on battles and assassinations, but I can't ignore it either. Businesses are going under, war vets are suffering, and the villagers are living paycheck to paycheck because taxes are becoming too much for them to handle anymore. I had convinced Naruto to reduce the tax on home ownership, but the problem is how fast he's trying to advance the city after Kakashi established it."

"With all due respect, Gaara-kun, we've already promised homes to the veterans in the new city. I'm living in one right now."

"Do you think everyone agrees to this movement? I'm sure Naruto's intentions are in the right place, but he's suddenly missing a part of him that used to make him such an incredible leader. His understanding of the people's heart. And it's because there are so many now, how could he? After a lifetime of fighting for approval, I'm sure he thinks he knows what's best, but being the leader of a nation has completely overwhelmed his sense of understanding the heart of his community to the point that he's practically forgotten the city he grew up in entirely."

Sakura wanted to argue, but part of her knew that Gaara was right. Her kid had painted "shitty dad" on the mold of his face on the mountain just a month ago. Naruto was undoubtedly becoming neglectful, and it was hurting those close to him

"Just talk to Naruto for me, okay? I feel like, if he hears it from you he might understand better."

"Well… alright, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," said Gaara before leaving to the cafeteria.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Hinata asked Sakura to go ahead with her normal schedule for academy graduate supplementary lessons while she treated Kiba by herself that day. She told her that she wanted her kids to stay preoccupied so that they don't have to see their Uncle Kiba in such a scary state. With a hug and no complaints, Sakura left to pick Bolt and Himawari from the Ninja Academy.

The issue here was that, by Naruto's request, the supplementary lessons included her daughter as well.

"Stupid Bolt!" Salada growled, a saying that practically became her calling card at this point. "You think you can run faster just because you're a boy?!"

Salada wheezed and huffed trying to keep up with Bolt, who stuck his tongue out at her and teased her. "No, I can run faster than you because I'm _Bolt_."

Surprisingly, however, while Salada lacked any kind of stamina, she could still stay toe to toe with Bolt in speed, whereas none of the other Academy students could run anywhere near as fast as these two.

The two of them dashed around the circumference of the dojo, nearly toe to toe with each other. Somehow their competitive run made their way in and out of the fancy new training machinery, like the duraland training dummies, up and over the ultimate exercise square, and through the electronic score-keeping shuriken target practice zone.

"Time," said Sakura, clicking the stopwatch as they both fumbled across the finish line on their last lap. She and Iruka stood to observe their supplementary lesson. Iruka stood at the sidelines recording everything he witnessed and Sakura assisted them as their personal coach.

"Did you see that?!" Salada shouted, "I beat you this time, Bolt! My foot went across the finish line first! Mom! What's my time?!"

"A full second slower than Bolt," said Sakura, plainly.

"_What?"_ she whined, "That's impossible! My record time beat his in the last trial run!"

Bolt laughed and stuck his tongue out again, "Yeah, I noticed, so I decided to beat it by a full second again. You see, dominating you entirely isn't really dominating you if I only do it once. I want you to know that no matter how many times you _think _you can beat me, you understand that you _can't_. That's what real superiority means. Unlimited victories!"

"Idiot, loser, blonde headed degenerate!"

"Blah, blah, blah, there's just no way I'd lose to a nerdy _glasses girl_."

Salada adjusted her glasses so that the light in the dojo reflected off of them. "Well I have a secret. These glasses only act as a _limiter_. Once I take them off-" She dramatically removed them, hair blowing in the wind, eyes coolly glossing over Bolt as she smirked.

Bolt poked her in the forehead. "You're still a nerd."

An unamused Sakura approached Bolt, focused on writing on her clipboard. "By the way," she said to Bolt, "I just finished grading all your written paperwork." And she tilted the clipboard sideways, spilling a heavy stack of problem solving paper's over Bolt's head that had large, bold "F"'s written on the front of every one. Then she handed a large stack of papers over to Salada, each of which had an "A+" written in bold on the front.

"Oooo, look at that," she said, holding her papers over his head, "Unlimited victories."

Bolt scowled, "So what! Ninja's don't have to read anyways!"

"Yes they do, Bolt," Sakura said into her clipboard.

"My dad never reads and he's the greatest ninja in the world! If it's my goodie-two shoes, stick up the ass shitty dad, I can easily become the greatest in the world!"

"Hey!" Salada shouted, lips pursed, "Don't you dare down talk the Hokage-sama!"

"He's my dad! I can say whatever I want! He's the lamest, most boring, un-fun, stupid dad in the entire world!"

Iruka stopped writing notes mid-sentence upon overhearing Bolt and Salada's bickering, lowered his clipboard, approached Bolt and gently put his hand on Bolt's shoulder, grabbing his attention and quieting the two with a gentle smile while saying, "Bolt, how about you sit down with me while I tell you a few stories about how much of a terrorist little shit your father was at your age?"

"Uh… okay."

"Later, Iruka," said Sakura, "Right now we need to do the final test. Himawari, are you ready?"

The little girl that was sitting down in the corner and watching all the physical tests stood up and baby-stepped over to Sakura, who patted her on the head.

"Alright, be ready to try your hardest, okay?" she said to Himewari cheerfully. Himewari smiled with her tiny lips and nodded aggressively.

"Okay, okay, don't rattle your brains before the test," she laughed. She pushed Himewari toward the other two and ordered them to stand at attention. Then she took two bells from her pocket and tied them to her hip.

"This is called the bell test. One bell per person. No bell, no pass. Get it? You have until the end of the day or you fail your supplementary lessons, and you will have to take the graduate exams over again. Ready?"

Bolt squinted his eyes in confusion. "Wait, wha-?"

"Go."

Salada and Himewari dashed ahead of Bolt, who widened his eyes at the dust they left him behind in before dashing to catch up himself. "Hey, wait up!"

Sakura stood with her arms hanging idly, a slight smile creeping up her face. "Well this is different," she noted, "Attacking all at once, huh?"

Despite their concerted effort, Sakura lazily dodged each and every one of their attacks with sidesteps, shimmies, ducks, and simple redirection of their attacks.

"It's cute how hard you're all trying to overwhelm me," she snickered, "But all you're doing is stunting your own attacks by constricting the area in which you should have room to develop a strategy. No one is getting a bell like this."

They continued to attack her with jittery, underdeveloped taijutsu attacks despite her guidance. Their movements stagnated as they waited for the next most vulnerable spot to be open after the other was done attacking it. Finally, Salada and Himewari jumped back, finally getting the message. Bolt on the other hand continued his vigorous assault, and Sakura analyzed him individually.

_Bolt—very impressive power, even more impressive speed; probably the top in this year's academy students—perhaps in the top percentage of the country. I can feel the wind from his fists nearly tearing at my uniform. Reminds me of Rock Lee during his youth. Contrary to that, no ninjutsu or otherwise to speak of; clearly isn't learning anything his father is trying to teach him. Despite his massive power and speed, it's all useless because of his abhorrent lack of coordination. Can barely chuck a throwing star. He's nearly poked his eye out spinning a kunai around on his finger._

"So what's your strategy here?" Sakura asked, standing still and redirecting all of Bolts movements.

"Beat you up and take the bells!" said Bolt.

"That sounds foolproof." And with that, Sakura pulled out a kunai with red markings on it and started to plunge it down towards Bolt, who screwed his face up with shock and surprise, just barely pulling back and dodging it. Before he could straighten up and go, "Ha!" the kunai launched from Sakura's hand and just behind Bolt's left heel so that he tripped and fell backwards, throwing his feet up in the air. She caught him by the heel and pulled him up so that he swung upside down from her grip.

"No fair! I had you!" Bolt shouted, swinging his arms around violently.

"You did," said Sakura, "Until you didn't."

She threw a paper seal out of her pocket like a leaf and created a hand seal. The seal made a popping noise and transformed into a post pre-lodged into the dojo floor. Then she pulled invisible string from the back of her equipment belt and tied Bolt's hands together with nothing her free hand, flipped him over, pushed him against the post and tied him to it all while he wildly struggled.

At that moment, Salada decided to take advantage of the situation and come in with a kunai. Sakura didn't struggle at all tying Bolt up before she got to her, but she came close enough to nearly cutting the bells off her hip. Now it was her turn.

_Salada—my daughter is the smartest in the country without any doubt. Excels at everything academic. Genjutsu, medical ninjutsu, and so on, all a cinch for her to perform. But she seriously lacks street smarts. It's just impossible to get her to apply her perfect performances to a real-time situation. This has ruined her experience on the field and she doesn't get the proper nourishment for her growth, resulting in her embarrassingly naïve personality. I raised her to be strong, but it's hard for her to stay at the top of the class physically with such a delicate muscle density. Surprisingly, she manages, though. Especially when she's around Bolt. Curious…_

It didn't take as long for Salada to get the message that she wasn't going to get the bells with physical attacks, so she backed off again. To Sakura's surprise, Bolt managed to get a kunai in his mouth somehow. She noticed long before he could toss it, but the swing that his neck provided the kunai was unexpectedly well developed, and the toss came at her like a bullet. She shifted to the side to dodge and the kunai flew past her.

"Himewari, _now_!"

At the last second, Sakura suddenly realized that the kunai was a distraction for the real attack—Himewari. She turned around just in time to find that the tiny little girl from earlier came flying at her in the Gentle Fist stance. No, not that—the _Gentle Step Twin Lion Fist_. In mid-air, no less.

Sakura leaped back twenty feet from the incredible killing intent. The air around her tiny fists reverberated, everything within the lion-head shaped chakra daring to rip up anything anywhere near it.

_Himewari—there has never been a truer genius. She graduated the academy two years early and accomplished every level of the Hyuuga fighting style known to the clan. Not yet old enough to awaken the Byakugan, but when she does she will be unstoppable. As the new heiress to the Main House of the Hyuuga clan, she's polite, humble, modest and caring, especially for her brother. Hinata raised her well._

As she analyzed her, Himewari, didn't leave her any room to relax. She glided towards Sakura with an elegant speed, not too quick, not too slow, just fast enough to prevent her from thinking but chase her down any direction she went to avoid. In doing so, Sakura kept moving back, left, right, left, left. Himewari was taking advantage of the fact that speed was not her strong suit. Suddenly she noticed how little space she had left. Himewari had backed her into a corner already. An odd idea struck her—did Bolt and Himewari plot this together? Using the kunai that Bolt threw to force her movement to one side of the room and then continually pressuring her to move there…?

"Yeah! Kick her ass, Hime!" Bolt cheered.

It was interesting. But not enough.

Himewari made one final dash toward Sakura and attacked with the Gentle Step Twin Lion Fist technique, but Sakura took the time to make a single hand seal and—poof! Himewari dug her palms into the wood of a log in her place.

Sakura stood on the wall above Himewari, watching as she looked around, confused. "Well, at least it was something," said Sakura. Himewari followed her voice and found where she was standing.

"Oh, you're up there," Himewari said very feebily, "Good."

Her fingers formed a hand sign and she reached for the wall. Suddenly, Sakura's feet became unable to move.

"Chakra polarity severance technique," Himewari explained, "The very same chakra you focus through your feet and into the wall gets cut by my chakra when I shoot it through the wall at yours, making them two separate chakra's with different polarities, ultimately magnetizing you to the wall."

Sakura tried budging her feet. It was hard for them to move. "So the strategy wasn't just to get me into a corner, it was to get me to jump on the wall? Smart."

"Thank you," said Himewari, before dashing up the wall at high speeds towards Sakura. Himewari didn't even use any chakra control techniques; she simply skipped up the wall with sheer strength.

"I underestimated you," said Sakura, "But—"

As Himewari attacked, Sakura crouched down, got face to face with her just before the attack connected, widened her eyes, stretched her lips, stuck out her tongue and went, "NNYYYYEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHHH!" Himewari stopped mid-attack, squealed in terror and fell backwards.

"I still know your weakness," Sakura laughed, "Eleven years of babysitting didn't count for nothing."

"Cheater!" Bolt cried.

"Are you still stuck there?" Sakura asked, somewhat amused. She pulled her legs and her feet seemed to easily come off the wall. "Oh, looks like the jutsu is done." Sakura took the bells from her belt and twirled them around in her finger tauntingly, jingling them as she walked down the wall. Himewari sat on the floor rubbing her behind from landing on it from so high up, and Bolt was clearly not going anywhere. She checked the room for any sign of Salada, who had yet to attack during all the aggressive movement, but she had a feeling that it was her turn.

"Salada?" called Sakura, looking around the dojo. Salada tried hiding behind one of the duraland dummies in the dojo, but Sakura could easily spot her scowling face from a mile away.

"I can see you, ya know," said Sakura, "We still need to work on your stealth. A lot."

"Damn," said Salada, coming out of hiding, "That's it. You forced me to do this, Mom!"

"Address me properly, Salada," Sakura scolded, preparing a kunai in one hand and getting into a launching stance in the other. All she had left to do was subdue her daughter, and then she had the rest of the day free to herself. "In the dojo and on missions I am Sakura-do—"

The feel of a strange, airy flux around her finger caught wind of her attention, and her head whipped toward the hand that held the bells. They were _gone._

A faint jingle rang in Salada's direction. Sakura shot her attention back at Salada, who clenched her fist. Her face no longer scowled, in fact, it smugly grinned at getting the better of her mother. "My mistake, Sakura-dono," she grinned as she jingled two bells from her fingers.

Sakura's body froze—she could swear that, for just a moment, there was a red color in Salada's eye—no, the technique she used was unmistakable.

"Was that… just now…?" Sakura stammered.

Salada walked over to the post that Bolt was tied on and tucked the bell into his pocket. Bolt looked at her with a horrified expression.

"There. Bolt and I both pass now."

"Salada?" Sakura asked.

"What?" she retorted, "Is that against the rules?" She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and let the light of the dojo flare off the lenses for a sophisticated effect. "Well, I don't care. You wanna know why? Because those who break the rules may be scum, but those who abandon their friends are even worse than scum!" Her triumphant look turned into a genuine joyous smile. "Naruto-dono and Kakashi-dono always say that." Her face began to slightly blush, and her glasses flared in the light again, but Sakura could tell she was taking a glance over at Bolt. "A-And I gave Bolt the bell b-because he's my frie—"

"Are you a fucking _idiot?!" _Bolt spat. Salada spun reeled back in shock at his statement. Bolt's outcry even took Sakura by surprise. "Don't give the bell to _me! _Give it to my _sister_!"

"W-Wha—you-?"

"Look! Look at me!" He wobbled around in the confinement of the invisible string. "Do I _look_ like I earned a pass? Or is the flare on those glasses blinding your eyes?"

"W-Wait, but we're all gonna pa—"

"I swear to god if you don't give my sister the freaking bell, I don't care that you're a girl, I'm gonna take this post and beat your ass ugly, you retard four-eyes _bitch!"_

"That's ENOUGH," Sakura roared, "Bolt! You get your ass back to the academy right now and prepare to take every test again! That goes for everyone! None of you pass today! Bolt's ruined it for all of you."

"_What?!" _Bolt cried, "You're pinning this on me now?! I'll kick your ass, too!"

The air fluctuated like shaking sheet metal under the flash-step Sakura took towards Bolt. She crouched in front of him, pulled his head up by his hair and made eye contact with him for just a moment before his entire body involuntarily started shaking out of fear.

"Let me explain something to you, you little shit," said Sakura, "If you continue to act this way in front of me, you're going to go home _begging _for your father to scold you. You're going to go back to the academy, reshape your attitude, retake your tests and from now on respect me, respect my daughter, and show a sense of respect in front of your _sister_. Do I make myself clear?"

Bolt's breathing pattern became uncontrollable and showed signs of hyperventilation. His only response was widening his eyes, unable to avoid contact with her bloodshot eyes.

"I said, _do I make myself clear?_"

Bolt struggled to nod. As soon as he complied she stood back up and cut his strings loose. He couldn't do anything but stand and stare at the ground. Himewari walked towards him, looked up into his eyes and took his hand with both of hers.

"I'm sorry, Hime," said Bolt, continuing to stare at the floor, "You failed because of me."

"That's okay, Bolt-nii chan," she said, "I don't mind taking the test again. We're gonna go and work on your temper too, okay? We need to do a lot of happiness training for you today. I'll give you lots of ice creams from the fridge."

"Okay, Hime," said Bolt, "Get me chocolate. Chocolate is my favorite."

"Okay, but don't forget to brush your teeth afterwards this time."

Salada ignored them as they walked past her. She looked at the bell in her hand. Her lip curled slightly and she swallowed hard. Then she threw the bell on the floor with a "Tch" and followed behind them.

Sakura watched them all leave before taking a deep sigh of relief. "How the hell did you put up with this, Kakashi-sensei?"

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Sakura returned from her hospital duties later that day, hoping that Salada would be home. She had ice cream in the bag that the sun had threatened to melt while she was outside. Remembering Himewari talk about ice cream with her big brother had put the idea in her head, and she thought that Salada might have liked to share some ice cream together with her as well, so she went shopping for some. After the events of today, it would probably be an effective pick-me-up. Also, Sakura was just craving sugar.

"Salada? Are you home?" she called, putting the groceries on the living room table.

She heard humming coming from Salada's room and decided to inspect. There Salada was, humming away a classic Hidden Leaf tune, sorting through her things. "Salada?" Sakura called poking her head through the crack in the door. Salada hadn't noticed quite yet, but thanks to that, Sakura managed to notice what she did next undetected.

The large cabinet on top of her dresser drawers had a lock on it, and Salada went to put a key that she took from out of her pocket into the lock. When she opened it, what was inside made Sakura's jaw drop.

It was a shrine dedicated to Naruto. Pictures galore of him was posted inside. Head shots, shoulder shots, full body shots, all different kinds of pictures were taped or pinned or posted up against the inside of her cabinet, leaving no gaps anywhere. There were even some pictures of when he was thirteen years old, like her. And—by god, were those his goggles from the ninja academy? She couldn't even imagine how she managed to get _that_.

_What the hell? _she thought to herself, _Oh my god. My daughter is obsessed with Naruto. With NARUTO. You have got to be kidding me._

Sakura quickly pulled her head behind the door again, making sure to hide her presence completely while still peeking through the crack. Amusingly enough, Sakura noticed one picture out of the hundreds of Naruto pictures that was in fact, not Naruto, but instead a picture of Bolt, smiling with his sister throwing up the piece sign from the bottom left corner of the frame.

Salada picked up the picture and looked at it. "Stupid Bolt," she quietly said to herself, "I'll show you. I'm gonna be Hokage one day. Then you'll notice me."

Sakura tried very carefully not to make the door creak as she clung on to it while sinking to the floor, her eyes wide as they could open, dumbstruck. _This can't be for real._

"Or, I could just marry Naruto-sama instead. We'll marry in the Land of Mist where it's legal and I'll be his second wife. What would you think about that, Bolt? Huh?"

Sakura slunk to the bottom of the door, eyes fixated on Salada. Her eyelids couldn't open any wider. They wouldn't blink either. She couldn't take much more of this. It was too much. She had to stop spying, it would ruin her.

Sakura pulled back from the door and laughed silently, her fist quietly beating on her knee and her other hand holding her head up lest it fell off from suppressing the hardest laughs she ever had.

"I'm going to be Hokage someday, Datteboyo!" Salada cried from her room. The clear breaking point for Sakura, the laughs broke out through her nose and sputtering lips, so she dug her face into her knees. _Datteboyo?! Not even Shanaro? Really?! _It was so adorable that she couldn't even be upset about it.

"Huh? Who's there?" Salada called. Sakura lifted her head in alert, stood up and tip-toed away from her room around the corner of a wall into the living room, pressing her back against the wall behind the corner.

Salada creaked open the door to peak around, but thankfully wasn't suspicious enough to come out. But this time, she shut the door all the way. Sakura's heart calmed down. If Salada had caught her spying, the poor girl would be mortified.

… Then again, Sakura was _that _mom.

The inner desire to mess with Salada couldn't be fought. Naruto must have embedded a bit of his prankster side into her, because she found herself blaming him for it. With a little grin, she casually strolled back up to Salada's door and twisted the knob slowly, jiggling it for a second to give her a moment to hide everything, and then pushed the door wide open.

"Salada-chan, I'm home!" she said with a gleeful expression. Salada jumped sky-high and fumbled with everything in her hands, trying to close the cabinet doors as quickly as possible. "BWAH—GNYAAAH!" She blurted out. She turned her back to the cabinet, arms spread eagle against it as if trying to desperately keep Sakura out.

"Mom!" she called back, cheeks flushed as read as a tomato, "What are you doing home?!"

"It's… hehehe… It's five o' clock, I get out early," she replied, although the chuckles seemed to still be wanting out, "Do you want some—ppftnngg—do you want some ice cream?"

"U-Uh… okay," Salada replied, "Yeah, I'll come out in a second, now go away!"

"Alright, hurry up, it's—ppppftnnnnngghhehehehee… it's melting." And Sakura closed the door, just slightly enough to convince Salada she was gone, but not quite all the way, and she peeked back into her room.

Salada opened the cabinet back up and started placing everything back into their proper order. Before shutting and locking the door, she stood and stared at the big Hokage-Naruto picture in the center.

"I wish you were my dad," she said quietly before shutting it.

Sakura pulled back from the door. This time she was sure she heard something she should not have. And somehow, it stung her heart more that it should.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

The next day, Sakura spent the latter half in the Hokage office with Naruto. Her feelings of bitterness from all of yesterday's events still lingered, but she stayed professional about it, as it was her duty.

"Almost done for the day," said Naruto, typing away on his laptop with one hand and eating cup noodles with chopsticks in the other, "Can I get an oral report on how the supplementary lessons went?"

Sakura stopped straightening out the papers on her desk halfway the moment that was mentioned. "They failed."

Naruto looked up at her in surprise, a mouth full of noodles. "Even Himewari? I mean, I expected Bolt to, absolutely, but… Himewari? And Salada too?"

"Yes. It was the bell test. Their teamwork was subpar at best. Your son relies on your daughter a surprising amount. That's not considered teamwork, and it wasn't good enough for a passing grade."

"Well, I mean, if that's your verdict," said Naruto, tilting his cup ramen in his hand to suck down the last dregs.

"I'll be re-doing the test again with them next week. I'm sure they will improve greatly. They always do." Sakura smiled and her eyes glossed over with joy. "I mean, they're really incredible." Naruto's eyes focused on her from behind the cup. "Himewari is already Jounin level in pure combat skill. And she's _eleven_. How did you even accomplish that?"

"Wasn't me, that was Hinata," he said, setting his empty noodle cup down, "The relationship those two have is impeccable, and that was just what she needed to grow. Bolt is a completely different ball game, though."

"Even Bolt is amazing," said Sakura, "He has so much raw power. His chakra reserves are one to outmatch yours, can you believe that?"

"That is the one question you do not ask me," he said, pointing his chopsticks at her.

Sakura laughed. "And then Salada… She finally awakened her Sharingan today, did you know that?"

Naruto froze. His expression died and he stared at Sakura, but she didn't notice and just went on.

"I think she used Kamui on me today or something… Just a tiny one, of course. Can you do that in the first stages of the Sharingan? I'm sorry, it's just, it's kind of a happy moment to see, that she did it all on her own, without having to go through any suffering to get it… It proves that the cycle of hatred is truly broken, and that… I mean… I'm just… I'm just so proud of her…"

Tears streamed down Sakura's cheeks and dragged her face down so that her chin was in her chest. "I'm just… so proud…"

Naruto got out of his chair and walked over to the other side of his desk. "Sakura," he quietly said. She lifted her sniffling head up. Naruto offered his hand, and she took it, grabbing on to it to pull herself up. Then he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her shoulder under his chin. The warmth of his hug enabled more tears to well up in her eyes, and she hugged him back tightly.

"He would be proud too," he said.

A knock came at the door. "Hokage-sama," interrupted Udon, "Shikamaru is back from his mission, and he's here to make a report."

Naruto let Sakura go and walked towards the door. Shikamaru stood just outside, looking like his usual lethargic self. "We'll talk outside," he told Shikamaru.

"N-Naruto, are we done?" Sakura asked. Naruto turned to her and said, "For now, yes. Just finish that paperwork and then head home, I have to go."

"Go where?" asked Sakura, but he didn't answer and just passed through the door himself. Luckily for Sakura, her paperwork was all already done, so she could just go. She picked up her paperwork, and only stopped for a moment just outside the office door that barely creaked open to hear Shikamaru and Naruto talking to each other.

"They were importing the Tengu Blood straight across the boarder without any official documentation. It's coming from the Land of Sound, we need to go across the boarder and locate its source."

"If I send a team out there to invade those boarders we could be looking at another war with the Sound easily. We can wait with that, I'm not worried about it right now."

"What the hell could be more important than this?"

"I finally found out where Sasuke is hiding his eyes."

Shikamaru went silent for a moment before tentatively asking, "…Where?"

Naruto took a deep breath. "In Salada's head."

The hairs on the back of Sakura's neck stood straight up. That _couldn't _be true.

"Sasuke is here. In the village," said Shikimaru.

"Right now? Without an escort?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, standing at the village gates."

"Get Hinata. Tell her to meet me in the ER as soon as possible."

"Got it."

The two of them walked in different directions. But Sakura stood as stiff as a board behind the door. Salada's eyes were Sasuke's. Sasuke is here. Sasuke is _here_.

She dropped all her paperwork on the floor and leapt out of the emergency escape in the office, down the village building and sliding off its horizontal shingles. Once on the road, she flash-stepped towards the front of the village as quickly as she could. The tall, banner like gate welcoming you to the Hidden Leaf got closer and closer, until, just around the bend she could see the front gates. She skidded to a halt and kicked up a ton of dust in front of her. When the dust settled, behind it stood Sasuke with a brown bandage over his eyes.

Standing in front of her, hand on the hilt of his personal chokuto blade, leaning on one leg, he turned his head her way, not sure if she was truly looking at her or not.

"Naruto, you're here," said Sasuke in a light tone, "If you're going to ask about my eyes over and over again like you do, let me make it clear right now, I'm not saying a word. Now can I please borrow your right eye again?"

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

A/N:

Hi there.

Alright, there's a crap ton I want to say, but I'm gonna keep it short and sweet for the first time because I know, I know, this chapter was ridiculously loooooooong. I'm sorry. When I write I write with a checkpoint/cliffhanger in mind and don't stop writing until I've properly developed the story to that checkpoint/cliffhanger. This woulda been out sooner otherwise, mah baaaaaad.

So yeah. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, commented, etc. It means a lot to me. I didn't expect to get as many as I did for that first chapter, I was just crossing my finger for a couple, two/three comments and stuff by the end of the week. So yeah! Pleasantly surprised! Then again, following up the ending of a huge series with a headcanon about *gasp* INFIDELITY would definitely garner some serious attention, probably. I've already received a couple hate comments from people who commented as guests, but I think I had guest commenting turned off at the time so they didn't get posted.

Anyways! So as a lot of you probably know now with this second chapter, this story is gonna be a… um… plot heavy. I promise, there will be plenty of NaruSaku! Especially in the next chapter… I mean, the general idea is NaruSaku, but when I was writing this, the writer in me demanded something more interesting, it demanded a GOOD STORY. So, I just decided to create headcanon about what happens after the manga (and it can still be interpretative! Nothing ever solidified the SS ship, it was all implication! Heavy, heavy implication! *sips from denial tea*).

So, there ya have it. I intend to give you the best headcanon you can write for this series (or at least the best I can write). Whether or not I'm the first one to write a NaruSaku "infidelity" piece, or perhaps that I was the only one with the gall enough to try, I hope you all stick with this if I can keep your interest well enough.

By the way, this is my first fanfic.

Be gentle.

EDIT: I want to encourage everyone to point out grammatical errors, obvious canon contradictions or anything in general that needs to be looked at if you can. I go over these at least three times, but there's always something that I miss. And I'm a writer by hobby, so I only work to improve my skill. It would be much appreciated, thanks guys.


	3. Chapter 3: Tool

A/N: From now on, "Salada" will be referred to as "Sarada" as that is apparently 's way of pronouncing her name.

WARNING: REALLY FREAKING LONG.

Enjoy! :)

vvvvvvvvvvvvvv

The softly glowing cinders on the cherry head of the cigarette in Sakura's mouth cast a gentle red light on her face in contrast to the cloudy, gray sky that dampened the mood in the entire village that day. The last ashes of the carcinogenic stick she sucked down fell from the tip of the filter until the fiber glass began burning. She pulled it from her mouth and flicked it to the side, pulling out her pack from her jounin vest for another one, only to find it empty.

"Uh, hey Shikamaru," she said, walking alongside him on the village path to the monument, "Do you mind if I bum a couple cigs from you again? Just to get me through the night, I don't get paid until tomorrow."

Shikamaru shot her his trademark sigh before pulling out his own pack from his vest and popping a few sticks from it for her to grab.

"This is the fourth time this week, Sakura. You're starting to become a chain smoker. You don't smoke around your kid, do you?"

"Of course not, I go outside," said Sakura, grabbing two from his pack, "Unless the weather sucks."

"You know smoking is bad for you, right?" he said, pulling out a lighter and striking it while she covered the head of the cigarette from the wind and took a drag. "Main cause of cancer and all that."

"Thanks for the PSA, Shikamaru," Sakura said with the stick hanging from her mouth. "Look, I know what you're thinking, and I'm not gonna have this conversation again. We just came from a funeral for five nin and a dog. Kiba looked like he was gonna vomit, and that was the only orifice on his half-eaten face that fluid wasn't dripping from. Plus the weather is shit and I haven't gotten any sleep in the last fourty-eight hours. I think I'm entitled to indulge in a couple bad habits for today at least without having to hear about _him _again."

"I didn't say anything about Sasuke," Shikamaru casually replied.

"Goddammit, Shikamaru."

"What? Is it that big a deal for your friends to be worried about you? We don't tolerate this kind of shit in the Leaf, that guy has been a total fucking ass to you. He's _always _been an ass, some of us just realized that sooner than others. It kills me every time I think about how he treated you at the gates two days ago, how he completely ignored you, just saying, 'I want to see Naruto; I want to see Naruto,' like you didn't even matter. I was there, I saw it. I felt like punching him in the face the entire time I was escorting him to the ER to get Naruto's eye. Has he even stopped by to see his daughter?"

Sakura stayed silent. It had been two days and no word from him, even though he was in the village now. Sarade had been so eager to see him after hearing about his arrival, but as the hours went by the look on her face became more and more depressed.

"You've been engaged to Sasuke for over a decade, yet I haven't seen any wedding ceremony happen. You know, I see Naruto and Hinata out every once in a while, maybe laughing, having dinner or something. Naruto gets up and acts kind of stupid, but it makes Hinata laugh. Then they dance, and I _really _have no clue how Naruto learned how to dance, but when I see them on the dance floor it's like, goddamn, there's fire. The way he leads her by the hand and holds her close to him, the electricity between their eyes is visible. He worships the ground she walks on, for pete's sake. And you? You get a poke on the forehead just before Sasuke hightails it right back out of the village you went through hell to bring him back to. So… how did you fall for this guy again?"

"We were on the same team. We did missions together. Lots of shit happened—look, is this gonna turn into a big spiel about how you think I fell for the wrong guy again? Because I can walk home alone just as well, thanks."

Shikamaru, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, held it in for a moment, and then let it all out at once. "Sorry, I'm not trying to be an ass. It's just it's been a while since I was as fired up as I am about all this. I should probably get going anyways, it's gonna start raining and I got a lot of sleep to catch up on after that last mission. Check ya later." He flash-stepped above her and started jumping roofs towards the monument below the city. Sakura still felt like walking. Part of her wanted the rain to come down.

She made a stop by the Ichiraku ramen shop for a bottle of sake on the way. She could have stopped by the liquor store across the street for sake just as well, but for some reason when she did it didn't taste as good.

Just as she wanted, the rain began to pour onto her head just as she left the village and reached the city limits. It put out her cigarette and she immediately regretted it. But she was already drenched, so there was no point in rushing. Some people stared at her as they ran by, as if she must have been crazy to be walking when it was raining cats and dogs, but she didn't care. When she got home, Sarade would already be cooking for the two of them with a smile on her face. It was a bittersweet feeling that that was one of the only two things she had to look forward to at the end of the day. But not as bitter as the drink.

Before:

"Lemmie tell you something you might not understand about girls, jackass," Naruto said to Kiba with clenched teeth, "Any woman who doesn't have the balls to hit his man when he needs it isn't worth a man's time!"

"So… you support domestic abuse?" Shikamaru chimed in.

Naruto spun around at him and steamed from his ears, "That is not what I meant, dammit! Quit twisting my words!"

"I'm just saying, I see Sakura hit you all the time for all different kinds of things."

"I'm talking about Hinata you idiot! HI-NA-TA!" Naruto backhanded his palm for emphasis of each syllable, his face clearly getting redder, but not quite discernably from rage or embarrassment. Shikamaru could tell it was at least a little of both. "Her slap pulled me out from a dark place at the time. Women hitting men doesn't make them look _weak_, that's just something the _weak_ say."

Veins popped from the top of Kiba's forehead as a low animalistic growl emitted from his throat. "Are you calling me weak, dickhead?"

Naruto cracked his knuckles, "Nah, considering your clan, I'd say you're more of a _little bitch_."

"_Naruto!_"

Sakura came crashing in from the side by surprise, driving her knuckles into his head until his mouth was shoveling dirt. "Why the hell are you starting fights with your friends again?! I specifically told you _not _to cause trouble for me tonight!"

Kiba laughed through his fangs. "I'm sorry, who were you calling a little bitch?"

Sakura's shaded glance caught his eye, the glow of her glare so evil that Kiba's skin began to crawl.

"_You want some of this, too?" _she growled, holding up a fist.

Kiba shrunk back. "No thank you, ma'am."

The Ichiraku was as busy as it ever was that day, as Sakura and the other ninja teams had just come back from a long two month mission out in the field. Ino and TenTen accompanied Sakura to a night on the town. Temari decided to follow them while she was in town with Gaara, and Hinata followed behind.

"I thought we were getting this party started?" said Ino, interrupting the charades with a glass of red wine in hand, "I'm already on my third drink, you fools need to catch up."

"Oh shut it, Ino, they weren't calling for you when they were throwing around the word 'bitch,'" Sakura spat.

"Excuse you," said Ino, "I'm just encouraging everyone to get happy. Take my advice for once, cro-magnon girl, you turn into less of a gorilla with a few drinks in your system."

Sakura's eyes burst aflame as she rolled up her sleeve to start the first fight of the party when the next few party guests rolled over to the group.

"Highapfa!" Naruto gleefully shouted with a mouth full of dirt as he hopped up from the ground.

Hinata walked up with TenTen and Temari at either side, both of whom were smirking at each other when they saw how Naruto's eyes lit up at Hinata. She wore a kimono that sparkled like a blanket of stars, wrapped to tightly fit her curves.

Naruto spat the dirt out of his mouth and walked over to her, unable to control his face from blushing. "Hinata, you look incredible," he said. Hinata blushed at him.

"… Thank you, Naruto-kun…"

Temari and TenTen nonchalantly walked past them while they were preoccupied with each other's eyes, and Temari put a finger up to her lip and smiled.

"Let's give them a little space," she whispered, taking Ino and Sakura by the shoulders.

"Yeah, c'mon guys," TenTen quietly insisted, waving Kiba and Shikamaru away from them.

"Yeah well, we've got other plans," Shikamaru said, "Sorry we can't keep you ladies company."

"Your loss," said Temari, shrugging her shoulder at Shikamaru.

They went over to an open table inside the back of the Ichiraku. The ramen shop had expanded exponentially after a few years, now being able to house customers inside as they came along. Nothing fancy, but the wooden craftsmanship was definitely something to admire. Structurally, it was easy to tell that Yamato had assisted.

"Yeah, I'll have the shrimp special," Temari said to the waiter, "And a bottle of your strawberry ale. I think that's it."

"Alright, I'll have everyone's orders shortly!" said the cheerful black-haired waiter.

Temari put on a wild grin when the waiter finally left. "I picked out the dress, if anyone wants to know."

"I told you we should have made a Haori for Naruto!" TenTen pouted, "Didn't I tell you? He just came in his ninja outfit like he always does! He would have looked so good in the one I wanted to pick out at the market!"

"Oh hush, the guy manages to look cute even with a mouth full of dirt, don't get all in a tizzy over it," Temari reassured her.

"Hinata is so lucky," said TenTen, slightly flush in the face from her third drink, "That Naruto better treat her right."

"I know, right?" Ino chimed in, "Freakin' underdog always sneaking up from behind the competition. S'not fair. If I had like, one shot at 'em…"

"He's grown up nicely, I have to admit," Temari added, "If I wasn't already dating Shikamaru…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sakura interrupted, waving her hands in front of her, "Slow down, hold up, stop for a second. I'm not sure I'm on the same page as everyone else here. Is, like, Naruto cool now or something? Did something happen while I was gone on my last mission that I completely missed?"

Ino stared at her quizzically, taking another sip from her cup. "I'm sorry, last I checked I graduated the ninja academy over like, five years ago."

"Naruto doesn't have to be cool to be cute, Sakura," said TenTen.

"Well, we _are _talking about the hero of the war, here," said Temari, "That's pretty damn cool."

"Okay, wait, I'm not saying he's not cool, but it's more in a sense of throwing a dog a biscuit when he does a neat trick. That's not the same thing as what we're discussing here. Every one of you is talking like you've got the hots for him; I am _not _used to hearing this crap. When did the standard change?"

"Okay, Sakura, I want you to brace your chair for a moment, because what I'm about to say might blow your mind." She set her drink down, picked up the red wine bottle she brought in with it, and poured herself another glass. Then she picked it back up and looked Sakura dead in the eye. "We all grew the hell up."

"Ino, stop being mean," TenTen snapped, "Explain it to her rationally."

"I don't wanna," she said, taking more sips, "You do it."

"Fine," she replied, "Sakura, you know how being the best student was cool back in the academy? Well, different things kind of matter now. Like, Naruto used to be obnoxious in the past, but we can all look back at the stunts he pulled in the past and laugh at them. He's sweet and funny. Girls like a guy who can make them laugh, you know?"

"R-Right," said Sakura, unable to keep her eyes away from how fast Ino was sucking down her umpteenth glass from a seemingly never ending bottle.

"It's a damn shame, too," said Ino, "You were on the same friggan team as him, yet you missed the boat on this one completely."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sakura asked, slightly nervous, "We're just friends. Damn, people."

"Isn't he like, your best friend?" TenTen asked, "You spent the better half of your ninja career with that guy."

"S-So?" Sakura stammered, staring to blush a little, "That doesn't mean anything. I already have someone I like, and he's just as close to me…"

Ino nearly spat out her wine. "Are you kidding me? You think-?" she exasperated, swallowing the drink she nearly choked on.

"No, no, we're not opening that can of worms right now," Temari cut in, hand on the table.

As if right on cue, Ayame came over with their order, skillfully carrying four bowls in her arms. "Here you all go! Enjoy!"

The rest of the evening went by with the three of them chattering lively amongst themselves and Sakura silently keeping to herself. She stared at the ramen she had ordered and thought about Sasuke and the child he had given her—what she would do with it, how she would raise it, everything the way he would want. It overtook her mind. Her food got cold without her even touching it, except the way she unconsciously swirled her chopsticks in the broth like a spiral.

After:

Sakura sat in the display in front of her laptop with a bottle of sake in her hands, chin on the table, scrolling through the webpages of all of her friends on FaceScroll. Her apartment was surprisingly quiet after Sarade's dinner, but she was too drunk to notice or care. Right now, she was absorbed in a session of post-funeral mourning, and what better way to do that than to stalk digital profiles of people you know with a forty-ounce bottle of spirits.

She flipped to Choji's profile page and pulled up an interesting post.

_~~~~~I can't believe I get to marry my best friend! It's like a fairy tale! Four days until the wedding!~~~~~_

She scooched in closer to the computer screen and peered at the comment. There was a picture of the two of them lying side by side next to each other, looking into each other's eyes passionately.

"How did you two even happen?" Sakura slurred, "What, Choji tell you he liked your cooking or something? Seriously."

_Knock, knock, knock._

The rapping at the door violated Sakura's eardrums like loud canon fire. Grumbling, she got up, stumbled a bit in her drunken stupor over the leg of the table, and slapped her feet across the carpet towards the door with the bottle of sake in her hands.

"The hell could it be at this time of night?" she muttered to herself. Opening the door, she found, to her surprise, Naruto's big, yawning mouth. Sakura stared at him with her eyelids half open, dulled expression on her face as he smacked his lips at the end of it, staring back with eyes just as glossed over.

"Your kid broke into my house again to play with Bolt," he said flatly, his half open eyes following her arm down to the bottle in her hand. "Aaaaaaaand now I know why."

A short little flash raced past Naruto's leg and hid behind Sakura's. Sarade peeked out from behind her kneecap, stuck out her tongue and pulled down her eyelid at Naruto. Sakura noticed her blushing, but she was a bit too sloshed to remember why.

"Didn't I send you to bed like… an hour ago?" Sakura asked Sarade. "Go to bed already, you freaking troublemaker. We'll discuss your punishment when I'm sober."

Sakura shoved her away and sent her off to bed before turning back to Naruto and hanging on the door frame.

"You're gonna shit your liver out if you keep drinking like that," said Naruto, nodding at the bottle in her hand.

Sakura squinted her eyes at him, her mouth hanging open slightly. She shook her bottle at him, spilling drink on the floor. "Let me explain something to you… Shut the fuck up."

"I never knew that, thanks for explaining," Naruto replied sarcastically, "But okay, goodnight, see you in the morning after your hangover." He gave a salute and turned to leave when-

"Wait," Sakura called, and Naruto halted in his tracks, looking at her over his shoulder. She stared at him with a glassy expression, her cheeks still flush from the alcohol.

Then, without warning, she pushed the bottle into his chest. "Drink."

"Wai-what?" Naruto stammered, eyes wide and awake now.

"If my liver's that important to you, then drink this with me."

"Uh… Sakura-chan, I kind of have a wife and kids I have to get back home to…"

Sakura withdrew the bottle from his chest, and looked away from him, slightly ashamed. "Right, I guess that's true… it's just that you're always so busy, you never have time to say hi… go figure, I guess…"

Naruto stared at her, fighting to find the right words to say but choking on each one. After a moment, he gave up on arguing and said, "Ah, to hell with it. One drink won't hurt."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise as Naruto yanked the bottle from her hand and took a swig. She would have understood if he had left her to go back to his family, but to suddenly rip the bottle from her hands and start chugging came out of left field completely.

"You're drinkin' like you got problems," she said to him, staring at her bottle and starting to want it back.

Naruto lifted one eyebrow in the air at her, "Do you know how thick the irony is of you saying that?"

"Gonna keep pokin' fun at me or are you gonna spill?"

"I hope not, it would be a waste of good sake," he said, taking another swig, "And this is the Ichiraku brand. Nice."

"Y'know what I mean, Naruto."

"I never got how they managed to ferment the yeast to such perfection in these bottles. It's like I'm drinking straight from the rice fields."

"Naruto!"

"What? Oh fine, whatever." Naruto walked up to her, placed the sake bottle in one of her hands and took the other, "But you have to spill first."

"Spill what?" Sakura said, as she was being led by the hand to the couch.

"Sarade has been telling me about your drunken fits. She says it's become more frequent since… well…"

They both sat down on the couch together and Sakura huffed, purposefully avoiding contact with Naruto while taking another large swig from the bottle. "No, no, no. I'm not talking about this garbage. I like 'em, I like 'em, n' I like 'em, n' there's nothing you can say tha'll change my mind, I'm _done._" Her words began slurring hard again, and her eyelids lost their synchrony at blinking.

Naruto chuckled. "You know what, how about we play a game? You down?"

"Sure," Sakura half-heartedly replied, "Whazzit?"

"Okay, from now on, this Ichiraku brand sake is now called 'The Bottle of Truth.' As long as you're holding it, you have to drink for every truth told about you. While the bottle is in your hand, I'm gonna make a statement about you that could be either true or false. If it's true, you have to take a drink. We'll take turns doing this until the bottle is empty."

"What's the goal of this game?" Sakura asked.

Naruto grinned. "To empty the bottle."

Sakura gave the bottle to Naruto. "M'kay. You get to take the first drink."

"Wait, wait, hold on. We have to pick a subject to follow, so we don't empty the bottle before getting to the nitty gritty."

"Okay, what subject?"

"Hmmmm… relationships."

Sakura peered at him through narrow eyes. "Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do, mister."

"Just playing a harmless game, that's all," Naruto said, grinning wider than before.

"Shit, fine. So then, I go first?" she asked. Naruto nodded at her. "Okay, then… Sasuke is your best friend."

Naruto pouted, looking at the lip of the bottle sadly. "Yeah, no. Close, but there are still a couple people closer."

"What, Shikamaru? Gaara? Ohhhhh, Hinata?"

Naruto handed her the bottle, "C'mon, it's your turn." Sakura took the bottle excitedly and positioned herself to take a drink, looking at Naruto with eager anticipation for the go ahead.

"Ino is _your _best friend."

Sakura's expression drooped. "You just want all the drink for yourself, don't you?"

"Naw, what fun would that be?" Naruto chuckled. Sakura begrudgingly handed him back the bottle.

"Well I suppose I'll be the big girl here so we don't keep handing the bottle back and forth without drinking it."

"Shoot," Naruto egged.

"You hate Kiba's guts?" Sakura questioned with a grin.

"In a loving way," Naruto smirked back, quickly taking a swig.

"_Hey!" _Sakura laughed, reaching for the bottle, but Naruto pulled it out of her reach, starting to chug what was left. Sakura's balance, even on the couch, was completely off after having half of the bottle to herself, so upon reaching for it she accidentally pushed Naruto over the couch. They both spun off of it, fumbling over each other and laughing. But the laughing was cut short when Sakura, lying on her back, looked up. There he was, on top of her, staring at her with half-drunk eyes that could be confused for something more passionate.

If only because the position they were in was so awkward, she couldn't help but blush slightly.

"Hey," Naruto muttered, the drink clearly getting to him already, "It's my turn."

Sakura turned away, staring at the bottle of sake laying sideways on the floor next to her, slightly spilling out. "Okay."

"You… still… like Sasuke?" It became more of a question, and it stuck in her head like a patch of wet cement. She lightly pushed Naruto off of her and grabbed the bottle, taking a swig and downing what was left.

"Yeah," she said, tossing it aside and wiping her mouth, "I do."

She turned around and looked at him. He seemed lost in a drunken stupor already, wobbling back and forth on his knees.

"Already punch drunk, huh?" Sakura asked.

"Huh?" Naruto said, unsure what to think at her comment.

"Well, there's, iunno, like, nine different levels of drunk that you can get, and you're already on level three after like five sips. Then there's level four, that's 'white girl wasted.' I'm white girl wasted right now."

"Whazza ninth level?" Naruto asked, drunkly.

"Rock Lee" she chuckled. Naruto laughed out loud, slapping his leg.

"Oh, hey, that guy can dance, I hear, don't make too much fun of him," Naruto added, "He's not a taijutsu master for nothin'!"

"Yeah, yeah," Sakura replied with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, "He's not the only good dancer, I hear."

Naruto's drunken stupor automatically went from 'nobodies home' to 'hello kurama' with the sudden devilish look that appeared on his face.

He hopped up, walked over to the wall where Sakura shelved a few books and her Radio/CD player, and messed around with it.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asked. A very light and jazzy tune played over the station he put it on.

"Just gonna prove those rumors that you're hearing true," he said, "Because I _am _pretty damn good, if I do say so myself."

"Naruto!" Sakura laughed, "We're way too drunk to dance!"

"I dunno 'bout you," said Naruto, adjusting his collar, "but I'm just drunk enough." Then he extended his hand and gave her an unbelievably suave look. If she wasn't so full of sake, she would have sworn that Naruto was actually causing her to blush more.

_Stop, stop, stop it, Sakura. I told myself I was done falling for this kind of stuff. And for pete's sake, it's NARUTO._

Then again, it was another thing entirely to be impressed by the best shurikan thrower. She'd been so immersed in the shinobi world for most of her life that it wasn't something that captivated her the same way anymore. Dancing, however, was a whole different beast.

Naruto grabbed her hand anyways and drew her in by the hip. "You ever do drunk dancing before?" he asked. Before she knew it, he was leading her step by step, slowly to the beat. "It's a lot of fun. Just the pick-me-up you need, I think."

The words got stuck in her throat. Everyone turned into a different kind of person when they drank enough. Naruto, it seemed, turned into a smooth talking heartthrob. It made her laugh when she thought about it enough.

"I-I don't… we probably shouldn't be doing this…" Sakura stammered.

"What? Dancing?" said Naruto, gently swinging her from side to side, "It's fine, just follow my lead, I promise I won't step on your toes."

"T-That's not what I mean." She couldn't look him in the eyes. It had been so long since she came this close to another human being, she forgot what it was like to open her heart at all.

"Just relax. You said it yourself, I don't spend enough time with my teammates. This ain't bad, right?"

"Y-Yeah, I just…"

Suddenly, she tripped over Naruto's leg stepping too far and fell forward. Naruto caught her shoulder as if it were a natural move and dipped her. She stared up into his glassy eyes, seeing an expression she had never seen on his face at all before. Her hair hung off her head like drapes and all she had was one heal on the floor. Naruto carried the rest of her weight with one arm, his other hand dangerously close to her hip.

"S-Stop!" she said, pushing him away, causing him to drop her on the floor. He lost his own balance and fell next to her.

They laughed for a straight minute before falling quite. She turned her head to look at him, and found he was already staring at her with his drunk but happy expression. She could swear this was one of those picture perfect moments she had seen so much of on FaceScroll.

"Sorry," she said, "I told you I was too drunk."

"S'alright," he replied, "We were having fun, that's all that matters, right?"

"Yeah, I guess…"

A warm, fuzzy feeling blossomed in her chest. She hadn't had this much fun in a long time. She remembered how she danced with all the other shinobi, like Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji—they all sucked, but nonetheless it was fun. That was a long time ago, too. But the fuzzy feeling died quickly when she remembered that she danced with all of them at Naruto's wedding ceremony with Hinata.

The smile she had on her face faded, and a small lump in her throat took its place. "After everything we've been through… I don't know… I just… I can't believe I haven't gotten a grip by now. Sometimes I think I'm just messed up. I put myself through this utter misery for no reason, but… but the truth is… I don't want to _live _this way… I feel like the worst person in the world." She covered her face to hide the fact that she was on the verge of crying again. "Since we were kids at the academy… no, not until I took the chunin exams, I think, I had vowed to take the shinobi life seriously. But, even then, I've… I've just had a history of failures… no matter how hard I try…" she uncovered her face and gave Naruto the best smile she could muster. "I'm just glad you don't hate me."

Naruto grabbed her wrist firmly. He frowned, but his eyes told her that he cared. "Sakura, you're my best friend. Bar none."

The hair on her skin rose, and the feeling of a thousand needles prickling her covered her skin, the strange warmth of before rising again.

"If there's anything you need, ever—anything at all—you let me know, alright? You're my teammate and family. I'm here for you."

"Y-Yeah…" said Sakura, and it was undeniably Naruto that was making her blush at this point.

Suddenly, Naruto's cell phone rang in his pocket.

"Oh, shi-!" Naruto cut himself off, pulling his phone out of his pocket and answering, "Hinata? Yeah! Yeah, sorry, we ended up talking for a bit. I just—yeah, no problem, I'll be back in a minute."

He hung up the phone and sighed heavily. "Well, Hinata's pissed at me. Again."

"Again?" Sakura asked, "Hey, you know, you never told me what your problem wa—"

"Sorry Sakura, I gotta spilt." He hopped back up, as if the drink had gone through his system and he had sobered up already. "I'll see you tomorrow in the office. Nine o' clock sharp, you hear?"

"O-Of course," Sakura hesitantly replied, watching Naruto wave at her as he left.

"Naruto, I…" she called after him, but he didn't seem to hear her. "… I miss you."

And with that, she shut the door to her apartment. Once again, she felt sluggish. If the liquor store were still open, she would have gone back out to get another bottle. She noticed Sarade peaking from outside her door, staring at her wildly.

"Hey," Sakura said, pointing at her, "I thought I told you to go to bed?"

"You guys seemed like you were having fun," she replied.

"That's none of your business."

"It's not fair," she mumbled, closing her door and stomping off to bed, "You guys get to stay up and have fun and I gotta sleep…"

Dragging her feet back to the table where she had her laptop, she slunk back into her chair and put her chin back on the table, her finger back on the mouse pad. She dragged up an old folder with a screen cap she had saved from a date years back. On it was a FaceScroll page of Naruto and Hinata's wedding post from Hinata's profile.

_~~~~~Married my best friend! It's like a dream come true!~~~~~_

Sakura stared at it, the lump on her throat getting bigger. She scowled and slammed the laptop shut, laying her face into her arms on the table.

"Your best friend…?" she muttered to herself, "… _My_ best friend. Bitch."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Naruto wandered the streets of the city, taking his time coming back home. Despite his best efforts, the drink was still running through his system. He stared down at his feet as he walked, trying to stay as oblivious to the rest of the world as he could possibly make himself.

"Did you have fun?" came a voice from the shadows.

Naruto stopped. It was the same voice that could rile him up like nothing else since he was a kid.

"Come on out, Sasuke."

Sasuke skulked out from the shadows of the alley Naruto had just passed. His face was partially covered in a turban, what had been his signature look for the past decade now. Part of it covered the empty eye socket that he had not been able to fill with an extra eye.

"That shadow clone eye doing you any good?" he asked.

Naruto turned over to him and dispelled the shadow clone eye, the smoke of the jutsu flowing out of his socket when it disappeared. "It's a real pain in the ass. Can't fool Hinata with a shadow clone either, she always knows somehow. Did you need to say something?"

"Yeah," said Sasuke, "Pass down your heirlooms. Starting now."

Naruto stared at him quizzically with his one open eye. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Have you been listening to Gaara?"

"Yes, and I'll tell you the same thing I told him. I have everything under control."

Sasuke shook his head. "Naruto, even with dreams, there are just some things you can't do for people."

"As if I need you telling me that. Are you even going to see your kid before you leave?"

"Of course. I always do."

Naruto fell quiet for a moment, staring at him.

"Yes, Naruto," Sasuke added, "I plan on telling her eventually, too. Now isn't the right time, though."

"When _is_ the right time?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke stepped back into the shadows. "Cities as large as this harbor secrets, Naruto. Lots of secrets. Just remember that." And he disappeared.

Naruto sighed and shook his head. His phone suddenly rang again. "Hinata?" he answered, putting the phone to his ear. "Yeah, I know, I dispelled it, I can't hold the jutsu that much longer, I'm putting too much chakra into it to keep it active. Yes, I'm almost home. No, I'm not drunk… Maybe a little."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Please, keep her safe," said Sasuke's distant voice. Motionless in the white void where he stood, the distance between Sakura and him became greater and greater. She chased after him, after his smiling face, the one she so longed to see him give her. It felt as if she were moving through water, and no matter how hard she tried to race towards him, he would only get further away. Then he turned, she reached out for him, and called his name.

Her surroundings cut to black like a whole scene of her life was just skipped. The hand she had reached out with was smothered in blood. Her legs waded in a shallow pool of it, and it slowly began to rise.

"Mommy, mommy!" cried Sarada's sourceless voice.

Sakura screamed her name back, splashing through the blood, but Sarada was nowhere to be found. It was only until the blood rose above her hips, her shoulders, and then to her mouth that her screams became muffled…

"SARADA!" Sakura screamed, vaulting herself off of her pillow. Her chest heaved up and down, the claustrophobic atmosphere of her dark bedroom stifling the violence that had infested her dream. The drugs weren't working. The same nightmare persisted, again and again…

It took a moment to notice, but as soon as she stopped shaking, her hearing began to focus at the constant rapping at the front door out in the living room. Her room was quiet, aside from the sizzling of food on a pan outside. Sarada was making breakfast again. More likely than not, she was going to answer the door first as well.

"Dad?" she heard her say in the other room. The sound of Sarada opening the door was followed by yet another cheer, "Dad!"

Sakura's heart dropped, and she didn't know why. An unexpected visit from Sasuke should have made her happy…

Tentatively, she crawled out of her sweat drenched bed, and then quickly went to her closet to change clothes.

"MOM!" Sarada cried, bursting through the door, "Dad's here! He's going to have breakfast with us! Hurry up!"

Sakura smiled, and the anxiety she had was slowly replaced with happiness upon seeing Sarada's smiling face.

As soon as she finished dressing, she slowly walked out the door. She felt nervous. There he stood, dressed in his turban and poncho as if he had been active hours before hand.

"S-Sasuke…" Sakura murmured, "You're here."

"I am," he replied, "It's good to see you."

Sakura's face lit up and she smiled. "It's good to see you too."

"Dad! Sit down! I'm making eggs and toast!" said Sarada cheerfully, hoping back and forth in the kitchen.

He turned his head towards Sarada, clearly giving her an affectionate stare. Sakura cradled her arms together. It seemed like nothing else put a smile on his face. And it made her a little sad, but twice as happy when she saw him like that at all.

Sasuke took a seat at one end of the small, rectangular kitchen table. Sakura took the other.

"It that fish egg?" Sasuke asked Sarade as she served him his plate. The egg was sunny side up with a light sprinkle of caviar, topped with a bayleaf.

"Do you not like fish egg?" Sarada asked nervously.

Sasuke hesitated, clearly scared that he had insulted Sarada's cooking. Hesitantly, he reached out from under his poncho and patted her on the head. "No, I like it, I do. Thank you."

Sakura smiled at their cutesy interaction. Sasuke seemed like he was trying so hard to be a father to her. He clearly wasn't any good at it. But it was the effort that made her happy. A small sting of guilt welled up in her chest. What was she thinking, the other night? She knew it all along, the heart wants what the heart wants, and she had no reason to give up on what she wanted. In the end, the payoff would be worth it.

"Does your mother cook?" Sasuke asked Sarada, who looked up at her with beaming, bright eyes.

"Yeah, and she's really good at it, too," Sarada smiled.

"Well, I-I… occasionally, I guess. I don't always have time for it, thanks to the hospital keeping me so busy."

"Oh, mother," Sarada said with a chuckle, "Don't be so modest. You even got those ramen idiots to try something different, _that's _how good your cooking is."

Sasuke looked up at her in surprise. "You cooked for Naruto and Bolt?"

"W-Well of course. They came over once and-"

"They came over _here?_"

"Uh, well, I mean…" Sakura started to choke on her words, not sure what to say next. Sasuke's eyes wandered the dark, windowless apartment, with a hint of disapproval in his eye.

"Dad!" Sarade interrupted, much to Sakura's relief, "Can we hang out today? Please? Pleeeeeeeaaaaaasssseee?"

Sasuke looked taken aback for the second time towards Sarada. He hesitated to answer her again. "Um… well, I guess..."

"YESSSSSS!" Sarada shouted, "Okay, you're gonna take me to the shopping district and buy me _thirteen years_' worth of clothing!"

Sasuke laughed nervously. "Yeah, alright." He looked at Sakura for approval.

"Just me and her, okay?" he told her.

"I don't mind," said Sakura, "I have to go to the hospital in ten minutes anyways. I'll be busy. So go ahead and have fun with her." Despite what she told him, she couldn't help but feel a bit down. Once again, she wouldn't be spending time with her fiancé.

"And later, I have something I need to talk to you about," he added.

Sakura's heart skipped a beat. She looked him dead in the eye. Was he really…? Could it be about…? She set down her fork and held her hand. Her fingers couldn't stop fiddling with the ring on it.

She looked down at it shyly, her face blushing. "Okay," she said timidly.

"Right, okay, that's cool, but let's go to the market _now!_" Sarada interrupted.

Sasuke took one last bite of egg and got up from his seat. Sakura did the same, a little more eagerly than she had intended to show, and walked toward her bedroom door.

"Oh! Dad! I almost forgot! I have something _cool_ to show you!" She hopped up and down on her feet and dragged her father around, "Come on, come on, let's go!"

Sakura smiled at the two of them being together, holding hands. Sasuke looked back at her as if to say he intended to see her again by the end of the day. She smiled at him. After everything she thought, it was nothing more than paranoia. Perhaps… perhaps everything would be okay after all.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Sasuke left the complex with Salada. Despite being a thirteen year old shinobi, she behaved rather childishly.

She turned around at him, puffing her cheeks in excitement. "You ready?"

Sasuke nodded. "It's not anything weird, is it?"

"Noooo! Dad, it's _cool_, I swear! Just watch really closely, alright?" She twiddled her foot around on the floor, tracing circles around with it as she held her hands behind her back, shyly.

"Go ahead, I'm ready," he said. The next thing he knew, their surroundings, the buildings, the pavement, the shops and the roads all disappeared. Instead, the both of them stood next to a single, tall tree in the middle of a field of tall, wavy grass that bend to the whim of a gentle breeze. Sasuke looked around, in disbelief of what he was witnessing. Cotton seeds floated around in the air from dandelions that littered the field.

"Where… Where are we?" Sasuke asked.

"A few miles south of the Leaf Village," Sarada told him, smile bigger than ever, "I lied about the shopping spree. I just didn't want mom to interrupt us."

"I-Is that…?"

"The instant transfer technique," said Sarada, "I woke your right eye back up, dad. I can use it, now. It won't be long before I can use the left."

Sasuke shivered underneath his poncho. His hand reached for his equipment bag on his belt, unzipped it and reached for the handle of a tool inside.

He couldn't believe this was happening. "S-Sarada… honey… could you come here for a moment?"

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

It had reached noon in the prison barracks. Jugo waited patiently for lunch. The mouth guard on his face had been killing him all day long, even more so the restraints that his hands were clamped in all day long, covering his fingers and spreading them far apart to prevent him from using hand seals. There, he knelt on the ground, the top and bottom of his calves shackled to the floor tightly, held down by ten inch long bolts.

"Are you ready for your transfer?" said a voice on the loudspeaker. Jugo stayed quiet. Vocal compliance wasn't necessary to appease them. And he didn't want to give them an opportunity to feed their egos for a single moment.

"Well, you're going whether you want to or not."

The doors in front of him burst open, and a group of well-armed ANBU walked into the room in formation around him. They took out a syringe with a clear fluid inside. Jugo decided to be rough to make sure they didn't suspect him of anything for being too compliant. He pretended to struggle against it, but the rest of the ANBU sealed his body movements in taijutsu locking techniques, allowing them to carefully inject him with the needle that calmed his muscles down and prevented him from allowing any kind of over-emotional state to manifest.

Once he became docile, they began to procedurally unshackle his body and brought out a white strait-jacket to insure his body was secure. They left the mask on him as well, leading him to a large dolly with built in chakra-reinforced restraints that they shackled him in.

"Well, see you next year," said the man over the PA system. The mouth guard helped Jugo hide his triumphant smile. They'll be seeing a lot more of him before he left.

They wheeled him down the hallway towards the north exit of the building. As they wheeled him, Karin, being escorted in normal cuffs, and the group of ANBU escorting her passed them in the hallway. They locked eyes for only a moment, understanding completely what was about to happen.

There was something about him no one has known for a while now. Jugo managed to learn how to control the natural energy of his cursed chakra power. Beneath his restraints, he blotted parts of his back into moldable mass, turning his tailbone into an actual, seven foot tail that he managed to poke out of the lack of restraint behind him. The end of it narrowed into a sharp needle, of which he carefully, but quickly controlled without his escorts knowing, and as soon as Karin's escorts passed, he pricked one of them.

"The hell?!" shouted the one that got punctured, "What was that?"

Jugo's escorts turned around in response to his reaction. "What was what?" one of them said.

"I-I don't know, something stung my leg, and… it's bleeding?" he pulled down the sock of his suit to see a small amount of blood smeared across his skin.

_Better than expected, _Jugo thought. Had he not poked hard enough to stop his group from noticing, he would have been very worried about Karin's safety.

"Something's funny," said the one of his group, and he spun around to stare at Jugo with his fox-like mask. "And I get the feeling you're causing the shenanigans."

Jugo stayed silent. It became easy enough to hide his chakra levels from anyone, even people three feet next to him, so reversing the natural chakra in his body wasn't a big deal at all.

"Check him," said the fox-faced ANBU. The others checked on all of his restraints, double padded him and checked his hands for any indication of crossing or sealing. To their dismay, they all ended up shrugging their shoulders and scratching their heads.

"Isn't he under a sedative?" asked one with a bird-like mask.

Jugo smiled underneath his mask again. He had already managed to steal sedatives from the ANBU visiting and used them to comfort himself in the shackles they had him strapped up on day to day, until he got so used to them that they only worked for a few seconds at best.

Suddenly, one of the ANBU escorting Karin fell to the ground writing in pain.

"What's wrong?" shouted the fox-faced ANBU, as all of them came rushing in to help him.

Jugo locked eyes with Karin again, insisting for her to come next to her. As the opportunity presented itself, she hopped over the ANBU and landed next to Jugo.

"Hey!" one of them cried, noticing Karin's sudden movements. But despite their protesting, it was too late. Right then, everything happened at once.

Jugo let out a war cry, as the natural chakra in his body swelled it to three times his size, effectively ripping off every restraint he had.

"He's breaking free! Quickly, get into formation—"

Once again, it was too late. The ANBU that collapsed started to make animalistic sounds. His mask fell of and his face was revealed to have changed in color. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and the skin on his face began to peel off like a mask. A large beak ripped its way out of his throat and lifted the face off to reveal a more disgusting, fur covered head with wild, red eyes.

"What's going o-?!" one of them tried to say, but before he could finish, the ANBU turned monster already had its overgrown talons six inches deep into his face.

"What the hell did you do?" Karin asked, watching the carnage unfold.

"I injected him with my enzymes," said Jugo, "This is our way out."

The ANBU fell, one after the other, to the blob of deformed muscle, ripping out of its skin. Talon's whipped back and forth, stabbing each member through a vital organ or piercing through them completely.

"Please tell me that thing is on our side," Karin asked, a bead of sweat trickling down her forehead.

Jugo deflated his body, returning back to normal size, but staying laden with natural chakra just in case. "Actually, we're gonna want to get the hell out of here."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Sakura had an easy day at the hospital so far. It was a day full of letting patients go and keeping everyone checked up on. The lunch room as usual was full of gossip and the never-ending smell of sterilization that attempted to overpower the stench of death lingered in every wing on every floor of the hospital building, as usual.

Sakura was bored. She sat at her desk in the main office of the building at the top floor. Being the commander and chief of the Dancing Leaves Hospital was just as boring as it was tedious. Saving lives was something she was good at, no doubt, but every female shinobi did it. The thought began to dig deep into her mind… Was that the aspiration of every female shinobi as well? To be the best at medical ninjutsu? Not that it wasn't a fulfilling trade in most respects, but, sometimes she stared out the window, like she was doing now, thinking about what else she would have had the drive to pursue if it hadn't been all about being better than Tsunade, and taking over her role at the hospital. Being under her study before had meant trying to catch up. Now that she was caught up, what was left? Birds frolicked about outside her window. For some reason, she became jealous of their freedom. In some other world, she might have done anything to start all over again…

"Sakura-Sama," said a nurse through the door, "Hokage Naruto-dono is here to see you."

"Tell him to come on in," she replied.

"Don't mind if I do," said Naruto, waltzing into her office, "And I will absolutely help myself to some of this delicious cold coffee, thank you for offering."

"That's nasty," Sakura chided, watching Naruto fix himself the last of the seven hour hold beverage. As soon as he set the straws in and stirred it, he waltzed over to the chair in front of Sakura's desk and had a seat.

"Here," he said, tossing her a manila envelope that he had been holding when he came in, "This is the turnout for the Tengu Blood drug testing."

"That was quick," she said, opening it and looking through the charts and graphs inside.

"I've got scientists that rival Orochimaru in ability," said Naruto, "So of course. We want to fight this drug, with everything we have, so we're learning as much as we can about it. So far, we know that it enhances physical ability times three, and allows easy access to natural chakra. Something akin to a soldier pill, but enhances your abilities differently, more powerfully and for a shorter amount of time. Basically, steroids for shinobi. It seemed harmless before, like a good emergency boost for a foot soldier in a tight spot, right? Well, we just finished analyzing Jugo's brain yesterday, and it was just as I suspected. _This thing gradually reconstructs your DNA._"

"Wait," Sakura said, holding a hand up, "I'm not exactly a chemistry expert here, so you might want to slow down at this bit."

"Just listen. Jugo's clan used to be the source of natural chakra manipulation, right? Somehow, they reassembled their entire molecular structure to whatever was suitable for battle. Normal people can't do that. I couldn't do that. I still had frog eyes way back when I was still learning about Sage Mode. This stuff changes your bodily structure against your will. So if people are taking it for long enough…"

Sakura's eyes jolted open as something clicked in her brain. "Then, the Tengu attacks…?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied with a definitive nod, "But I'm still not a hundred percent sure. I'm just going based off the fact that the first batch to ever reach my hands was marked as 'Tengu Blood.' And frankly, you can overdose on it like any other drug, too."

Sakura put the manila envelope in a file cabinet at the bottom of her desk. "Okay, I'll keep this with me for now."

"Have you checked Kiba's bloodstream to be sure he wasn't injected with it somehow while he was gone on his mission?"

"He's fine, bloodstream is normal and healthy. In fact, he just got out of the hospital today and left for home," she thumbed behind her, "Said he wanted to rest in his own bed now; I think he's looking a lot healthier, but… when he got out of bed and left, and even in the way he spoke… I mean it doesn't take a genius to figure it out, but… I think ever since he left the funeral, he's undergone clinical depression."

Naruto had been staring past her since she gestured with her thumb. As soon as she stopped talking, he reconnected his eye contact with her. "Kiba lives that way," said Naruto, thumbing behind him, "Near the apartment complex at the cliff of the mountain."

Sakura looked at him curiously, mouth slightly agape. "Oh. Well, that's not where he went. Should we be…?"

"Yeah, I might go check on him," Naruto replied nervously.

"Well, I mean, he might have just went to the liquor shop for a dr—"

"_Sakura-sama!"_ The door burst open by a nurse with a very worried expression on her face, "Come quickly! Sasuke-sama is at the front of the building, and…! And he's holding Sarade in his arms! I think she's having a _seizure!_"

"_What?!"_ they said in unison.

Naruto and Sakura bolted out of their chairs and dashed out of the office as fast as they could. They didn't even reach the front before they heard Sasuke's shouting voice, "Get out of the way! I said move!"

Sasuke rushed in, his turban an unraveling banner around his neck and his eyes wide with panic. He dashed past everyone in the hallway. Sarada limply laid stretched out in his arms, her body twitching and convulsing, her eyes open and staring off at the ceiling.

"Sasuke!" said Naruto, nearly bumping into him in the hallway.

"What's going on?!" Sakura cried, staring at Sarada in terror.

"Just take her!" Sasuke shouted, passing her off to Naruto, who without hesitation ran to the closest ER room available. He set her down on the bed, but when he did it seemed like her convulsions got even wilder.

"Elevate her!" said Sakura, and before Naruto could even lift a finger she had already done so herself, lifting the bed into an upright position.

"Nurse!" Naruto shouted, and three of them immediately ran through the ER doors to assist.

"We need to strap her!" Sakura ordered, "Help me hold her down!" The three nurses combined their efforts and held her limbs. Sakura held her right arm down, when something caught her eye, A small, red little pinprick on her bicep, with a small trickle of blood running down it.

"Sasuke, what's… this…?"

Sasuke reeled back to the doorway of the ER and keeled over as if he were about to hurl. "I fucked up… I fucked up… I…"

"Sasuke?" said Naruto, his arm on his shoulder, bending over to check on him. Sasuke dashed out of the ER without another word to them.

"Where the hell is he going?" Sakura shouted. Naruto didn't waist another moment to chase after him.

"Sasuke!" he shouted, but he wouldn't answer back. Naruto chased him through the front doors of the hospital outside. For someone who wanted to get away this badly, he would have used his instant transfer technique—if he still had it. Yet, the moment he turned the corner of an alley, he blended in with shadows and his chakra levels vanished completely.

"Dammit!" Naruto cursed, jogging up and down the alleyway. But there was nothing past the alley except for a dead end. Naruto hopped wall to wall up the building sides to get a better view of the city. Once on the roof, he scanned the scenery for any signs of Sasuke.

"Where the hell could you have…?"

Way off into the distance, Naruto heard a loud explosion resound. The cries of multiple citizens came from the same far off location.

"What?"

Paying closer attention, Naruto made out some of the screams: "Tengu…! Run for your life…!"

"No… way…" he murmured to himself. But the cloud mushrooming overhead managed to prove his disbelief wrong. Out of the mushroom cloud, a large, red beak poked its way through. A red, feathered giant, many sizes larger up close, began to romp around what looked to be the crumbling structure of the Dancing Leaves Prison. It opened its beak and gave an earsplitting cry that could be heard from miles away.

Naruto's skin crawled, and he stood paralyzed by the sight.

"Oh, _shit._"

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Get me a syringe and rope, I'm going to inject benzodiazepines intravenously, I need absolute focus when doing this."

Sarada twitched and spasmed in her restraints. The nurses continued to hold her down despite how tightly bound she was.

Sakura skillfully injected the tip of the needle just above the crook of her elbow and injected the benzodiazepines. Then she removed the needle and waited for a moment. Sarada didn't stop or regain conscious. Even worse, the heart monitor began to beep more violently than before.

"It's not working!" said a nurse.

"What?" said Sakura, dumbfounded, "Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! Everyone!"

"On it!" they all replied, performing hand seals, "Mystical Palm: Defibrillation technique!"

Two nurses stood on either side of Salada, while the third stood at her head, all three of them overlapping each other's hands above her chest.

"_Clear!" _ Sakura ordered, and their glowing palms shot a pulse into Sarada's chest. The heart rate monitor refused to slow down.

"_Clear!" _Sakura barked, and once again they shot a pulse from their palms. No results.

"We're losing her!" one of the nurses replied.

Sakura was at a loss. Her heart pounded on her chest so hard it was about to burst. Her grip on the edge of Sarada's bed tightened as firmly as her teeth were clenched. Then she noticed something strange.

"Move," she said to the nurse on the right, pushing her back. The trickle of blood on Sarada's arm was still wet and glossy. Given the amount of time for that quantity of it to be exposed to air, it should have already coagulated…

"I need an empty syringe, stat," Sakura demanded, and the nurse had it in her hands in a split second. Once more, the three of them held down Sarada while Sakura injected her with it from the crook of her elbow. She pulled the end of it, drawing three milliliters of blood, and then removed the syringe, looking at its contents.

"No. Fucking. _Way_."

The blood had a murky look to it, as if it were trying to mix with something of a different density. Something black. It slowly changed the contents of the blood. She had seen this before, in the reports Naruto had just given her.

"Tengu Blood."

Sakura chucked the syringe against the wall in a fit of rage. "NURSE! Liquid verapamil, ASAP!" She started performing hand seals at the speed of light, and the Strength of a Hundred seal undid itself, spreading its tribal markings across her body. "And go to Naruto's office to get me the sample Tengu Blood in his drawers, now! _I need that drug_."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Naruto arrived at the sight of the attack in mere moments, hopping from roof to roof, launching himself inside the fenced perimeter out on its grassy fields. The Tengu outsized the building itself, easily causing destruction and mayhem with every step. At least thirty ANBU or more surrounded it, throwing powerful elemental ninjutsu at it left and right—but nothing seemed to phase it. Some of the sharpest chakra reinforced kunai bounced off of its feathered human torso like planks of wood against a brick wall. The only response it garnered was the focus of the monster's yellow, beady eyes and the unavoidable speed of its crooked red beak as it lunged back at its attacker to retaliate.

Behind the scene, a flurry of prisoners were taking advantage of the chaos and escaping out of the great hole that was created.

"All ANBU personnel retreat!" Naruto announced over the prison's emergency alarm, "I repeat! All ANBU personnel retreat! Focus on the escaping prisoners! Do not attempt to subdue the Tengu! Recapture all escapees!"

The ANBU followed ordered without hesitation and backed away, hopping over the tall brick wall that fenced the field and chasing down the prisoners that were escaping per Naruto's orders. Now it was just Naruto and the giant humanoid bird monster in front of him.

"Kurama, I know you're in another country right now, but it would be great if I could grab a bit of chakra."

Naruto stood in front of the mayhem momentarily, waiting for Kurama's response. Then he inhaled deeply, smiled and said, "Thanks, buddy," before cloaking himself in his shining signature six paths garb.

Launching like a rocket from the ground, he first targeted the Tengu's left side with the intention to cut off three of its six arms. If the creature was anything like he had experienced in the past, what he was witnessing now was invulnerability to normal jutsu backed by inner chakra. But if he reinforced his kunai with _senjutsu _chakra…

Before the beast could even notice, Naruto was already on top of it and ready to strike. It turned its ugly, stain-yellow eyeball at Naruto the moment he swung down with the blade.

"Eat this, ya ugly freak!"

He struck the shoulder of the beast as hard as he could, sending a sharp shockwave down its side. Naruto kicked off of him and flipped back, lifting his head up for the results.

The beast was already on top of him by the time he recovered from his rebound, attacking him with the same arms he thought he cut off. Naruto flicker-stepped to the side to avoid the attack. He stared at it in shock.

"It didn't work…?"

Choujuurou's words rang in his head: _These Tengu. I know what you speak of. One attacked my village. It was incredibly tough, and the only way any of us had the power to fight against it was when we used the confiscated supply of Tengu Blood we had._

"Tengu Blood…" Naruto wondered. But the only supply he knew of was back in his office. He had no time. He would just have to rely on finding the beast's weak points and exploiting them. It had to have a brain, so sending an exploding kunai through its eye had to do the trick. The beast was fast, so it was not as simple as it seemed, but…

"Shadow Clone Jutsu."

The sun's light almost completely vanished, blotted out by a thousand chakra cloaked clones.

"So how about you let me pick your brain about something?" Naruto asked the Tengu with a grin, before showering him with a barrage of weapons.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Sakura held on to the Creation Rebirth ninjutsu as long as she could, before the nurse she had sent away came back with the black syringe from Naruto's office. Hinata had made it to the ER as well, hovering over her with the Mystical Palm technique.

"What are you doing with _that?_" she asked, eyes gaping at the syringe.

"Right now, Sarada's bloodstream is being assaulted by the enzymes inside the Tengu Blood drug, running through her brain and actually forcibly causing change to her physical structure. At this state right now, the blood hasn't physically been changed by the drug and can still fight back. I'm going to take advantage of the Creation Rebirth technique's support of structural purity to create antibodies to fight against it."

"How in the world are you going to do that?" asked Hinata.

"By injecting myself with the Tengu Blood."

Hinata stared at her as if she were crazy. It didn't matter, she took the syringe from the nurse without hesitation, popped the cap from the needle and aimed for the crook of her elbow.

"Wait! No!" Hinata shouted in protest, lifting a hand from Sarada to stop her. But it was too late. The needle was already inches deep into her arm, right along the line of the jutsu's markings. Sakura stared back into Hinata's eyes as she pumped the drug into her veins.

"Keep your hands on her," she demanded, "It will only take a matter of minutes to create the antibodies she needs. It's only a temporary remedy because this drug somehow adapts quickly like a virus, but it'll do for now. Do what you can to keep her heart rate down—draw blood if you have to. Just make sure she makes it."

"Sakura-chan, I don't think she has that much time," Hinata stated nervously, "In order to draw enough blood to reduce the effects of the drug that slowly, we'd need to replace her blood with the same kind as we draw it out. She's O Positive, that's too rare here. I don't know anyone that has it and I know neither of us do. The only other person I know with O Positive blood is…"

"We don't need someone else's blood," Sakura replied, and she made a single handed seal with her left hand, and then touched Sarada with her right. The Strength of a Hundred jutsu extended its markings onto Sarada's body, covering her with it from head to toe. "It won't have the same effects as what I'm doing, but I can make it so that her blood cells regenerate much faster at this rate—as long as the Tengu Blood hasn't fused with it. This way we can drain the blood inundated with the drug for the time being."

Suddenly, a large explosion echoed from the distance outside the building.

"Oh my…" said Hinata, looking out the window.

"Focus!" Sakura ordered, and Hinata's attention went right back to Sarada without question. To their surprise, and even louder explosion rang through the building from outside, causing the room to shake.

"What the fuck _is _that?" asked Sakura, her eyes darting over to the window to try and see.

"I'm not sure, but how much longer do you need for those antibodies? The verapamil isn't slowing her heart rate down at all and her shaking is starting to get violent again."

"Just a little more time, start draining her blood at the arm."

Hinata took an empty syringe and carefully injected the needle into Salada's arm and drained ten millimeters of blood. "Nothing's changing," Hinata reported.

"Drain more," Sakura replied, "And keep steadily draining until we get results. I have her bloodstream working in overtime right now, no need to be tentative."

Hinata filled the rest of the syringe with blood and handed it to a nurse. "Get me an IV drip," she ordered the nurse, who then proceeded to leave the room, and within a moment came back wheeling in the IV drip requested.

Hinata attached the drip to the crook of the elbow and began draining the blood as quickly as possible. The IV bag was full of blood in just under a minute, and Hinata asked for a second one, quickly replacing it. Sakura noted that the blood inside the IV bag looked murkier and darker than before. She got nervous.

"How much longer?" Hinata asked.

"I'm working on it!" Sakura snapped. Another explosion, louder and closer than before, resonated from outside.

"I'm sorry, but can we figure out what that is?" asked a nurse, "I'm getting scared."

"Whatever it is, Naruto is handling it, so stay focused, dammit!" Sakura spat.

"She's not looking too good," said a nurse. And she was right, Sarada's uncontrollable shivering was now coupled with a pale complexion. She could see the veins behind her skin on her face as clear as day. Sakura looked up at the IV bag. It was nearly black.

"Sakura!" Hinata shouted, "The blood is infusing with the drug! You're regenerating the drug now too!"

"Shit!" Sakura removed her hand from Sarada's body and the markings receded from her body.

"What do we do now?" asked a nurse.

"Keep draining her blood!" said Sakura.

"If we drain anymore she'll die!" Hinata argued, "She needs new blood!"

"Then find me some blood, dammit!"

At that moment, the door to the ER burst open. Naruto stood in front of them, panting and heaving, covered in blood from head to toe. "Take my blood," he wheezed.

"Naruto-kun, what happened to you?!" Hinata cried.

Sakura stared at him. "What the hell? You have O Positive blood?"

"Yes, I do, now _take it_."

"Wait! Naruto! You can't!" Hinata used the Byakugan to inspect him while simultaneously performing the Mystical Palm technique she had been using on Sarada. "I can already see you've lost too much blood from your injuries; if you lose anymore you'll die."

"I've got that covered," said Sakura, reaching out for Naruto and making the same single handed seal as before. The markings covered Naruto's body, and they could hear his wounds healing on the spot. "Okay, now get a second IV, get me the other end of that one, attach it to Naruto and get a new bag," she ordered to a nurse, who complied immediately.

"Do you have enough chakra?" asked Naruto.

"Thirteen years' worth," she replied.

"Please, do it carefully," Hinata begged the nurse inserting the IV drip to Naruto's arm.

"Don't worry about me, go as fast as you can," Naruto commanded. Hinata reeled back in defeat, not able to argue his orders.

The countdown in Sakura's head that had been ticking away finally came to a stop, and she grabbed a nurse. "Draw a blood sample from me right now. Extract the antibodies and get them into Sarada, ASAP."

Following directives, the nurse complied. Time passed and Sarada kept a stable condition thanks to Naruto's blood. As soon as it was finished, the nurse infused the antibodies with a sample of Naruto's blood and injected it. Almost immediately, Sarada stopped shaking. Her body relaxed and her heart rate decreased to a normal beat.

"Stable," Hinata declared.

Sakura took a deep breath and sighed. "Today just kicks my ass."

vvvvvvvvvvvvv

Sakura sat between Naruto and Sarada for the rest of the day, watching the sunset from the window.

"A little longer and you'll be out of here," she said, patting him on the leg.

"That's not the real concern here," said Naruto. She wish he didn't keep talking about her. The last thing she needed to do was cause herself grief by unnecessarily worrying about Sarada.

"So what the hell happened to you anyways?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"A mass prison break," Naruto replied, "But don't worry too much, all the prisoners were accounted for except two. Guess who those two are?"

"Karin and Jugo," said Sakura.

"Yeah. I should have known it was him from the start. He injected his enzymes into one of our ANBU and turned him into a monster. I didn't know he could do that. I caught this before it happened if I had paid more attention to Choujuuro's reports. The Tengu that attacked his village appeared right after Karin attempted a prison break from there. I bet Jugo was around to help her. Funny thing is, senjutsu chakra didn't even work on it. I'm guessing because it was mutated thanks to senjutsu chakra in the first place. The only way I managed to defeat this one was by sealing it away. Couldn't even kill the thing."

"It's not your fault," Sakura consoled, "No one could have seen this coming."

"Well, we really need to. We're already dealing with it in unexpected places." Naruto took another glance at Sarada. "Even innocent kids are being subject to it. I mean, what the fuck. How did Sarada get injected with Tengu Blood in the first place…?"

Sakura swallowed. She had an idea, but she would never bring herself to admit it, let alone speculate out loud.

"Did you… find out where Sasuke went?" she asked.

"No," he replied, "The asshole disappeared on me. I'm gonna kick his ass next time I see him."

They stayed quiet in each other's company for a good few minutes. Naruto stared outside the window of the hospital room. He had a good view of the sunset sinking over the edge of the mountainside. Sakura looked at him, unaware of how much she was staring.

"Naruto-kun," she said, breaking the silence, "Thanks."

"For what?" he replied blithely, still staring out the window.

"For saving my daughter, dumbass. Right after nearly getting killed by a demonic entity."

"All in a day's work for the Hokage." He laughed, and his laugh was infectious, causing Sakura to have to try hard to suppress her giggles, but no effort came to controlling the smile on her face. The smile dissipated from Naruto's face, however.

"Your daughter…" Naruto repeated to himself, "Is that how you think of her?"

Sakura looked down at her legs, thinking carefully about what bits and pieces of the truth would come out of her mouth next.

"I know that… we're not family yet, but… but she's precious to me. I love her as my own. And… And Sasuke…"

Naruto broke his view with the window and stared at Sakura in the eyes.

"Sakura-chan," he said, "There's something I need to tell you. And I think you might already know, but I have to say anyways."

Sakura returned his gaze, half fearful, half expectant. "… What?"

He took a deep breath, sat up on the bed, and struck her with the most serious look he had ever given before. "Sarada isn't related to Sasuke, either. She's just an orphan that he found on the battlefield."

It wasn't a sudden, shocking realization to her. Just as Naruto said, she had already known, deep down. Instead, a wave of dread, locked deep into the back of her mind, spread itself over her entire body. She knew, but she didn't want to believe.

A lump formed in Sakura's throat.

"Sasuke is… he's infertile," Naruto continued, "He'll never be able to revive his clan. He's going to be the last Uchiha. The only reason Sarada awoke the sharingan in her eye is because that's _Sasuke's _eye. I feel like you already know after meeting Sasuke at the gate the other day. Take what I have to say with a grain of salt, but… I think the reason he picked Sarada up was because she's the key to keeping his bloodline alive."

Tears welled up in Sakura's eyes. She got up from the chair she was sitting in and clenched her fists. "So… you knew from the start…? You knew and you never told me?"

"Sakura-chan, I… I just… I didn't want to ruin your happiness… "

Sakura smiled sarcastically through the drops of tears rolling down her face. "I don't know who you think I am. But I'm not the little girl that used to follow Sasuke around like a puppy anymore. I'm a _mother_. And she's my daughter, as far as I'm concerned. Sasuke takes a back seat to her existence, all day, every day." She gritted her teeth and her smile became a scowl. "So you _damn well_ tell me everything that I should know when it comes to her."

Naruto looked away, unable to make eye contact anymore. "I'm sorry," he said, "I was stupid. You probably won't forgive me, and I don't expect you to, either."

Sakura gave his apology no attention. Instead, she stormed out of the hospital room with a determinant look on her face and anger clenched in her fists.

"Sakura-chan? Where are you going?"

Sakura grabbed the door behind her, and before she slammed it shut, she replied, "To find Sasuke."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Bolt sat with Shino on a bench outside of the Central Park in the middle of the city. Shino had brought Bolt and Himawari outside for a moment of tranquility and peace as a part of their training, and although the Central Park was not the best place for that, thanks to the recent prison break he couldn't go outside of the city until the perimeter had been checked for the last two escapees that had not been found yet.

Shino folded his hands together, resting his elbows on his knees. He stared at the ground, deep in thought. Himawari was off to the side of them, running around and chasing butterflies. Bolt on the other hand, found his time best spent sitting on the bench with Shino, swinging his legs back and forth and ogling his headset.

"Why do you wear that all the time, Shino-sensei?" asked Bolt.

Shino took a deep breath. "It helps me see."

"Are you blind, Shino-sensei?"

"No."

"Then what does it help you see?"

Shino tilted his head and directed his tri-lined visor towards Bolt. "It helps me see things that people need to, but don't."

Bolt narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Shino-sensei, you don't make any sense. As usual."

"Just do what you came here to do, Bolt-kun."

"Okay…" Bolt pouted. Almost immediately, his face lit up again, "Shino-sensei, are you part robot?"

A vein in Shino's head throbbed and his jaw popped from grinding his teeth. Before he could take the time to scold Bolt for his attention deficit, Sakura had wandered into his sight and unexpectedly approached him.

"Shino-san," said Sakura. It became apparent that the constant distractions were beginning to irritate him. Sakura paid it no mind, however, as she seemed to be in a hurry. "Do you know where Sasuke-kun might be? Have you seen him?"

Shino thanked the gods inwardly for giving him the ability to get rid of her quickly so he could get back to focusing on tranquility. "I saw him limping that way down the park a while ago. Not sure what he was doing here in the park."

"Arigato, Shino-san," Sakura said with a bow, and she moved to pass them on her way, but she stopped. Shino's vein's throbbed again to see that she wasn't leaving immediately, but the cause of her stagnation stiffened his body just as well.

Sasuke limped out of the woodwork at the side, just as surprised to see the others as they were to see him. He held a small walking stick under his poncho to keep himself sturdy on the leg that was too weak to support him for some reason. He stopped, surveyed the area, nodded at them and then began to walk in the opposite direction.

"Sasuke-kun, wait!" Sakura called, and he paused, and shot her an impatient glare over his shoulder.

"What?" he asked.

"I've been looking all over for you! Where the hell did you go when Sarada was in the ER?" Sakura looked at the walking stick he used to hold himself up and her eyes skipped over to his leg which he seemed to be keeping most of his weight off of. "And… what happened to your leg?"

Sasuke hesitated to speak, eyes darting away and back again as if looking for an excuse. "I… twisted my ankle."

Sakura shot him a glare like he had three heads. "Okay, so…?"

Sasuke sighed. "I don't have time to explain things to you, everything is happening at once right now, faster than I expected. Now excuse me."

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called, running up after him, and he quickly turned back at her, dropped his cane and grabbed her by her shoulders.

"Do you not trust me?" he asked, his only eye locked into hers as if it were an attempt to mesmerize her.

"O-Of course I do!" Sakura replied, taken aback.

"I'm trying to protect you, you know that, right?"

"Yes!"

"Good." His one eye darted around frantically again, trying to spot invisible spies that weren't there. "I can feel it. There's a dark shroud surrounding this place. It's following me. I don't know where it's coming from. It reminds me of death." He met Sakura's eyes once more before letting her shoulders go. "Stay safe."

His words made Sakura smile. She reached her arms out and embraced him. It caught Sasuke off guard, causing him to jitter at her touch.

"Thank you," she said. With that, Sasuke pulled back, and picked up his cane. Sakura did nothing but silently smile at him with her hands behind her back, watching him slowly walk away until he was gone.

Then she pulled Sasuke's equipment bag from behind her back and held it in one hand with dark eyes on its ominous presence.

"Thank you, but I will protect Sarada myself."

Shino silently witnessed the whole scene, hands gripping each other tightly. He could see it. The dark shroud that Sasuke had mentioned hung over Sakura like a demon with a death grip. His hands shook as he brought them to his visor, unsure if he should take them off to stop himself from looking. This was the one time he wished that he wasn't wearing it.

"Aunty Sakura?" Bolt called, "Did you just take Uncle Sasuke's bag without asking?"

"I borrowed it," she said flatly, eyes focused on the bag. Then, without another word, she walked off.

Shino and Bolt sat on the park bench in silence, Bolt swinging his legs, Shino, staring at the ground.

"Shino-sensei, are we almost done?"

Shino thought for a moment. Then he rose up and directed his visor at Bolt, saying in a serious tone, "Grab your sister, find your dad and pack your things, Bolt. This lesson is over. We're getting the hell out of here."

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Sakura stared at the bag for over an hour as it rested on her kitchen table. It was right in front of her. Everything she needed to know, everything that was driving her crazy, all in that bag. All she had to do was open it and look inside.

But she couldn't. She paced back and forth in front of the table, wondering how she would address Sasuke if what she found in it was what she was looking for. If her worst fears were confirmed. But… what if she was wrong? Easy, she would bow her head and beg for forgiveness as she handed him back his bag. But… what if she _wasn't? _ Every fiber in her body screamed at her to leave it alone, to just forgive him of any suspicions he had. But she wouldn't, she couldn't turn a blind eye to this, not _this._

She slammed her palms down on the surface of the table, lurching over the bag, her entire body shaking. _Damn you, _she thought, _Why are you doing this to me?!_ It wasn't hard to figure out, though. If what Naruto said was true, then Sasuke had no intention of marrying her. He dumped a child on her for his own selfish desires. To think that there was no other woman would have made her happy-instead it _infuriated _her. It wasn't even an accident or lapse in judgment she could forgive. He never had the intent to make a family with her. He _led her on_ with the false promise of a future together. She felt like a dog conditioned to respond to the sound of a bell. Her entire life, her emotions, her desires. Shit on. Wasted. Thrown in the garbage.

She pushed herself off of the table and knocked over one of her chairs on her way to the kitchen. Her impulses screamed at her to degrade herself for being a fool. She opened the fridge, and inside was a stock supply of sake she had been saving up for the day Sasuke left again. She grabbed the first bottle she saw, opened it, and tilted the bottle over her lips, spilling its entire contents down her throat. She threw the empty bottle in the sink and grabbed another, starting to drink again. The effects came almost immediately. She lost her balance, stumbled, and started to hiccup from drinking so fast. She grabbed onto the wall, trying to hold steady, finding herself in front of the mirror in the living room. The toxin may have hit her so hard she was seeing things—her eyes looked yellowand animalistic for a moment. Was she going insane? She needed to pull herself together. Everything was spinning out of control. She didn't know what to do. Didn't know where to go. Except…

"Naruto," she whispered to herself, "He'll help me. I can ask him—_hic_—I can ask him anything. I bet he'll know _just _what to do."

Half empty bottle in hand, she stumbled toward the door, and fumbled out of her apartment complex onto the city street.

She made her way toward the edge of the monument at the city's limit. She received a call on her phone earlier that he had left the hospital and went to the village with his family so that he would be one less patient for her to worry about. With a hop, skip, and a jump, Sakura drunkly skidded down the face of Naruto's monument on her way. She landed on the ground with a heavy thud, turning over to his face on the cliff and saluting it with a grin.

"Whassat, Hokage-sama? Take the stairs? Aye-aye! Next time when I'm not so drunk and lazy, I swear."

At this point, the grip she had on her sake bottle became a subconscious response, and she drank from it without even noticing. She walked down the streets, stumbling every few steps, searching left and right for any sign of Naruto and his family.

When she found them, they all stood together in front of the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, the essential first place to look when you couldn't find Naruto. He stood at the side, bandaged up, clearly just out of the hospital. He had a phone to his ear and looked as if he were in an intense conversation with someone. Hinata looked at him worriedly, both Bolt and Himawari at her side. Sakura tilted her head to the side. She couldn't make out what they were saying from a distance, so she moved in closer.

Hinata's begging eyes chased after Naruto's preoccupied ones. "Naruto-kun! Shino sounded _frightened_. I trust him and his judgment, now please! Just leave with us!"

"Hinata, I love you, and thank you for your concern, but there's _too_ many things going on right now for me to leave," said Naruto, waving her off to stop her from interrupting him on the phone, "Just take the kids and go until I get back with you, alright? Between Jugo and Karin escaping, trying to find Kiba and the demonic hell spawn sealed in the prison lot right now, I can't be worried about this, too."

Sakura chuckled to herself. Hinata didn't appreciate how cute Naruto was when he tried to be all business-like. But Sakura had grown to like it. Seeing a side of Naruto being so grown up as opposed to how he used to be was interesting in all different kinds of ways.

Naruto waved her off and started to walk down the road towards Sakura, talking on the phone all the while. She hid off at the side of a shop waiting for him to pass, until she pulled him into the alley by surprise and pinned him against the wall with one hand.

"I kneeewwwww it," Sakura slurred, "You're fighting with Hinata. That's what you weren't telling me before."

"Uh, Kakashi-sensei, let me call you back," he said, clicking the end button on his phone. "Sakura, are you drunk?"

"Shhhhh, don't tell anyone," she said, one finger to her grinning mouth, "Wanna have another drink with me? Ditch the bitch?"

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't refer to my wife like that," Naruto said flatly.

"Sorry," she said, sticking her tongue out and knocking her forehead with the rim of her sake bottle, "Just trying to cheer up my buddy."

"Listen, Sakura, I don't have time right now, there's something going on and—"

Sakura pressed her chest up against Naruto's, pushing him up against the wall more tightly, her face close enough for Naruto to smell her drunken breath. She made sure beforehand to slightly unbutton the top of her suit slightly so that she could catch Naruto's attention with a flash of cleavage when she made her move.

"Sakura, what the _hell _are you doing?"

"You know what? You work too much. You need a break. Whaddya say? Help me with my problems and I'll help you with yours." She gave him a wink on the same side as the end of her grin that showed the most teeth. "Come oooooon. I know you still like me. I knoooooooow it."

Naruto pushed her away almost instantly. "No. I'm not doing this. You're gonna have to take care of your own problems today. I have enough to worry about."

"W-Wait, wait! C'mon, I'm just teasing. Can't I poke fun at you a little?"

Naruto gave her the dead eye. "Sakura… I know you're having troubles, but you can't fool me…"

Her heart sank, and the mischievous expression on her face softened. Once again, Naruto ripped away the veil she tried to hide behind. It was just another part of him that she admired, that he would never let her be anything other than herself. Something she clearly didn't thank him enough for. Something she hadn't realized that her heart had always cried out for.

She looked at the bottle in her hand. She knew it was a stupid idea. Clearly she had too much to drink.

Suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Hinata stood in front of them, shortly followed by Bolt and Himawari. Sakura had never seen her the way she looked at her before. Her arms were crossed. The look on her face was murderous.

"I saw everything," she told Sakura, "Sakura." She stomped towards Sakura until they were nose to nose. Veins throbbed at the side of her head, and not because she was using her Byakugan.

"Leave. Now. And from now on, stay away from Naruto-kun."

Sakura screwed her face up. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. The absolute _gall_ on this woman was absurd. She might have had too much to drink for some things, but it was more than enough to fight this.

"Escuze me?" Sakura slurred back at her, "I'm Naruto's _teammate. _We've been through… through _everything! _You think you know him better than _me? _You got a lotta nerve to tell me what to do, fuckin' just waltzin' up here and talkin' like you own the guy. Who the hell do you think you _are?_"

"I'm his _wife._"

Sakura stopped herself, unsure of what to argue next. "You…! Youuuuuu…!" she waged an accusing finger at her, throwing herself off balance again for the umpteenth time that night, "And after all this—_hic_—time! I was _so _supportive of you! But you're just coming back to slap me in the face-!"

_Slap._

The sting across her cheek sobered her up faster than a cold shower. She froze with her face angled in the direction it was smacked, the red mark on her face as pink as her hair.

"_That's_ a slap," said Hinata, "Have I made my point?"

Naruto stared at his wife like she just shed her skin. "Hinata…"

She held a hand to his face. "Wait."

Sakura held her face, gently caressing the spot Hinata struck her on, still in disbelief. "I… I…" she stammered.

"Of course Naruto is mine," Hinata's spat, "I'm not the one who got engaged to a _loser._"

The venomous words struck a chord. Sakura gritted her teeth and balled her hand into a fist, but all the energy she had leaked out from her eyes with her tears. "You….!" she growled, choking on the lump in her throat, and she took a swing at Hinata, who stood her ground against her and did nothing. Naruto easily caught her fist, void of chakra as it was.

Sakura stared at him with wet eyes and struggled for him to let go. "Why are you against me, too?!" she shouted, "Why am I the bad guy?!" She pulled herself out of his grip, tripping backwards and falling onto her back end, finally dropping and breaking her sake bottle.

"Let's go, Naruto," Hinata said, gesturing for her children to follow, who looked over their shoulder to get a better look at Sakura's pathetic display. Sakura crawled to her knees and lifted her hand in the air, pointing her finger again.

"You think you're smart?!" she screamed, "You think you know my team better than I do?! _My _best friend?! _My _fiance?! Sasuke-kun isn't a loser! Sasuke is…! Sasuke is…!"

Her voice trailed off, her eyes wandered, and she dragged her finger with them, not knowing where to point it anymore. "Sasuke is…"

A wave of bitter realization washed over her. "I think I made a mistake…."

At that point, the sobs and heaves she broke down into made her words nearly incoherent. Snot dribbled down her lip, and multiple streams of tears fell from her face, rolling off her nose as she remained on her hands and knees behind them. Once again Naruto had his back to her.

She gripped the dirt, wet with tears, between her fingers. _"I think I made a mistake!" _she screamed. Naruto froze. Hinata looked over her shoulder, unamused.

Sakura kept talking into the dirt through the tears and snot covering her face. "I think I fugged up… really bad… and I don't know who else du turn to… Narudo… helb me… blease…"

Naruto sighed. The street was quiet aside from her sniffling sobs and hiccups. He turned to Hinata, silently begging her to let him help his friend save face. She nodded sympathetically, and continued to walk off with the kids.

Sakura stayed on her knees, not daring to look up and show them her face, taking the silence as them already leaving. So seeing Naruto's hand in front of her face as he crouched down to help her up slowly stopped her sniveling.

"Come on. Get up. Let's go."

She hesitantly took his hand, and he pulled her from the ground. Her palms and knees were filthy, and she kept her hair draped over her face to avoid eye contact with him. He kept a hold of her hand and led her back in the direction she came. They walked for twenty minutes, taking the long road back to the city.

Once they arrived back at the front of Sakura's apartment complex, he finally let her hand go, and she sat on the stone steps leading inside. She leaned her shoulder and head against the railing to the side, looking down the road through her bangs. Naruto sat on the steps in front of her, folding his hands together to meditate on the situation.

"I'm sorry…" Sakura muttered, "I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of your family."

"I won't hold it against you. But you need to fix that drinking problem of yours, understand?" Sakura silently nodded.

"You're thirteen years too late for this, you know that?" Naruto said, "But I blame myself for it just as much. Hell, I encouraged you to be with the guy. Over a decade later, and now this…" He rubbed his face with his hands. "I was selfish. All that mattered to me was your happiness. But I should have known better. I knew that those closest to you could hurt you the most… But… that's just what happens, right? When we open ourselves up like that."

They sat on the steps for a little while longer, staring up at the night sky. Naruto stood up and brushed his pants off. "The painful thing is that we have to live with our decisions. But I need you to stay strong, alright? I want you to look into a twelve-step program for that drinking habit of yours. But first, you need to pack your things and get ready to move. Shino called me, says something bad is going down. I'll give you more detail about it later. Just go take care of yourself for now. Okay?"

Sakura stayed motionless on the steps, seemingly lost in her own world. Naruto couldn't more than glance at her over his shoulder. He sighed. "Okay, well… see you around."

Sakura didn't even notice him leave. Right then, she knew, for the first time in her life, what a broken heart really felt like. And it made her feel dead inside.

"I swear… I would have… figured it out… Naruto…" The silence in the air pulled her from the world she escaped to back into reality, where she realized she was alone.

Her hands unconsciously fiddled with the ring on her finger again, and it finally occurred to her why. She slipped the ring off of her finger and held it in front of her face, and dropped it to the ground. The reality of it all was dead obvious to her now. The only thing anyone ever saw in her character was the sum of her choices. Even to her teammates, that was her whole being. She was an extra. A character in the background. She fell into Team 7 with the most amazing shinobi in the world today by sheer dumb luck. She had no substance, no depth, _no_ _story._ And every day that she looked upon the monument with Naruto's face, she was reminded of that. Her own daughter held a shrine for him, not for her.

Sakura laughed. She wasn't even her daughter. What did that make Sakura? Who was she? A mother? A medical nin? She had often consoled herself with the fact that many considered her more talented than Tsunade, but the fact behind such a truth was because she was just filling out a role with the goal of catching up to those two. One had a dream to avenge his clan. The other had a dream to become hokage. She had a dream to become someone's _housewife. _Someone like Ino could have been in her shoes just as easily.

She felt the side of her pocket where her cigarette pack was. She pulled it out to find one of the two cigarette's Shikamaru had lent her the other day inside. Then she took her lighter out and struck it, dragging on the stick tenderly like a little bird. After all, one of the two things she had to look forward to at the end of the day was a child that wasn't hers, and a slow, painful, lonely march towards death.

That's when she got the call.

Her pager went off at the side of her belt.

She picked it up. Her eyes flew open. And she dropped the pager in her palm, whispering a name under her breath: _"Sarada."_

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"_Clear!" _barked the head nurse in the ER as the group on medical nin surrounding Sarada, performing the Defibrillation Technique.

"_Clear! _Measure her base deficit and serum lactate, we need this incubator regulated _yesterday_. You, I want her CO2 levels the moment she's resuscitated, is that understood? One more time, _clear!" _

The door to the ER burst open. Sakura stood frozen in front of the frenzy, mouth agape. The sound of the heart monitor flat lining drained the blood from her face.

"Get that incubator on her face, right now! The first thing she'll do when she's back is gasp—she needs sterile air!"

Sakura slowly walked up to the bed where Sarada lied very still. Above all the clanging, banging and shouting nurses, all she could hear was a constant beep.

She watched as one of the nurses used the mystical palm technique to open a cavity into Sarada's chest and dip her hand in to massage her heart, her other hand simultaneously over her head. The floor may as well have crumbled beneath her. She couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't do a thing. All that existed was the sound of death, and it made a constant high pitched, unending drone. The room grew larger, the echo grew louder and she became smaller. The fragile dome that was her life simply shattered around her.

Suddenly, the flat line broke. The nurses cheered, sighed with relief, and everyone patted Sakura on the back.

"She's gonna be okay," they told her, "She's gonna be okay."

Sarada took her first breath with the incubator on. Then, she opened her one eye to her mother, standing above her, tears silently rolling down her face to her chin, staring at Sarada in utter exasperation. She tried to open her other eye, but the stitches kept the empty, mutilated eye socket closed.

"Mom…" she said through the incubator on her mouth, touching her stitches, "My eye hurts. My eye… my… where is my eye…?"

All reason escaped Sakura's thoughts.

"Doctor Haruno? Your eyes are—"

_BOOM._

Sakura flicker-stepped over the bed and her fist impacted the hospital wall like a canon firing shrapnel. She created a gaping wide hole next to Sarada's bed, knocking the nearby nurse unconscious from being in the crossfire. Pieces of the wall lodged themselves into the other side of the building. The dust settled around the hole, and Sakura stood at the edge of it.

Her eyes were bloodshot with fury, pupils dilated to the size of pinpricks. Bearing her teeth, she clenched them so tightly that veins popped out of her neck. Steam blew from her nostrils upon exhalation. Then she took a deep breath, screaming out his name so that he could hear her wherever he was.

"_**SAAAASUKEEEEEEEEEE!"**_

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Sasuke and Ino heard the enraged cry from the other side of the city. They sat at the side of an empty crosswalk with equipment Ino was using to operate on Sasuke with.

"You're fucking _crazy_!" said Ino.

"Shut up and fix my eye, dammit."

"Do you think I'm gonna put up with this?"

"I told you—this is for your family's safety. You want to keep your child safe, don't you?"

"You _plunged _your goddamn _kunai _into your own daughter's _skull_!"

Sasuke grabbed her arm. "She's not my daughter."

She ripped her arm out of Sasuke's hand. "I'm an accessory to a crime thanks to you, you piece of shit! It doesn't matter _whose _daughter that was! If it wasn't for those goddamn lunatics beneath the city, I'd fucking kill you myself!"

Sasuke bolted upright and stared at Ino with one lazy sharingan activated eye, bearing his teeth at her. "Then the next time I _see _one of those goddamn lunatics, I'll _thank _them before they burn the whole goddamn _city._"

Ino reeled back from him, hesitantly grabbing for her kunai, but thinking better of it. "Just… Just go do what you said you would do! Keep my family safe!"

"Finish my eye."

Ino shuddered at the thought of getting close to him again.

"Hurry, Ino. She's going to find us."

"I-I'll hold Sakura back. You just go ahead, I'll catch u—"

Ino flew backward like a ragdoll on a spring, swung in the air by her ponytail. Sakura had grabbed the end of it without her realizing and whipped her over her shoulder into the nearby building through shattered glass, metal bearings and drywall.

"Son of a bitch—!" Sasuke cursed fumbling backwards. "How the hell—?"

Sakura stood in front of him, fringes wildly splayed across her head, muscles tight, every inch of her body seeping rage. **"Give me one reason I shouldn't break every bone in your body," **she growled, so menacingly that the paint on the building was starting to peel off at the palpable venom her aura was producing.

"Sakura, I understand what you might think, but this is for _your protection. _There are forces at work… they want my eyes, Sakura. If they get ahold of the rinnie sharingan… if they find out where it is—"

She took a flicker-step toward him and swung her fist, left, and then right, both Sasuke just barely dodged with the force of his cane pushing off from it. But the blow had so much power behind it that the wind still blew him off his feet, causing him to tumble backwards and fall to the ground. Windows shattered from the shockwave, causing the streets to be rained with shards of glass from four stories up.

Sakura took a tumble herself after her second swing, rolling on her shoulder, putting her on her side. She slowly got pushed herself up, bangs draped over her face to prevent the utter hatred from shooting straight from her eyes to Sasuke's too quickly.

"**Everything that comes out of your mouth is **_**bullshit. **_**Complete **_**bullshit.**_**"**

Sasuke pushed himself from the ground. Looking at Sakura, he gasped. The tomoe in his sharingan spun, briefly activating for him. "The shroud of death, I… I can see it… Sakura, you… you're…"

"**Just answer me **_**one **_**question." **She took a deep breath and shot Sasuke a glare with completely unnatural, yellow eyes. _**"ARE YOU DRUGGING MY DAUGHTER?"**_

Sasuke stared at her for a moment, jaw slightly unhinged. His good eye trailed to the ground, finally understanding the meaning of the puzzle he had been trying to solve all along. Then, as if giving in to defeat, he closed his eyes, exhaled, and said, "Yes."

It took a millisecond for Sakura to cover the distance between them, hovering above him, her fist ready to strike him down with thirteen years' worth of pent up rage.

The force of her blow into his chest was so fierce, it created a crater spanning the size of the entire crosswalk. Sasuke's eye's rolled into the back of his skull, veins popping out of his neck, and blood vomiting from his mouth. The crater caused the buildings around them to bow toward it, each one starting to crack apart under the pressure of their own imbalance. Sakura pulled both fists back, folding them together, and slammed down as hard as she could, screaming "DIE" at the top of her lungs, nothing but red in her vision, yellow overtaking her eyes.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

"Over here! I heard the explosion over here!" Bolt and Himawari ran over to the site of the hospital where a hole had been blown in the wall of a room on the fourth floor.

"Nii-chan!" cried Himawari, "Shino-sensei told us to wait with all the others while he evacuated the city! We can't just run around, we should listen to him!"

"You know I can't, Hime-chan! Sarada is still back here, I heard them talk about her back in the village and—_look! _There she is!" Bolt pointed up at the hole, which he and Himawari stared up from the pavement outside the hospital building. There stood Sarada, right at the edge of the hole in hospital clothing, looking down at them with one eye open. She swayed back and forth on the edge, dust clouds and debris floating off the edge, her expression one that was barely conscious.

"Wha—Sarada-chan!" Himawari shouted, "Get away from there! You'll fall—ah!"

Persuaded by the lightest breeze, Sarada leaned forward just a little too far over the edge and fell forward.

"Bolt-nii!" Himawari shouted.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" he cursed, dashing forward, running up the wall as much as he could and catching her. He landed on one knee, skidding it but just barely breaking her fall.

"Sarada, are you all—what the _hell?" _He stared at her faintly cognizant features, eying her lack of an eye. "What happened to you?"

Sarada slightly opened her one eye and unhinged her mouth. "Bolt… kun…?"

He put her feet to the ground and tried to let her walk on her own, but her body wouldn't let her stand upright. She fell to one knee and held her empty right eye-socket, inhaling sharply through her teeth from the pain.

"Sarada-chan, are you okay?" Himawari asked, reaching out for her out of compassion. She swatted her hand away and stumbled backward.

"Sarada!" Bolt shouted, "Stop! We're trying to help!"

"I don't need your help," she spat, "I don't need anyone's help. I'm _strong._"

"Sarada-chan, what are you saying?!" Himawari whimpered, holding her hands up out of fear.

Sarada giggled under her breath. "I'm not just smarter than you, Bolt. I'm stronger. My dad has been making me stronger over the years, since I was a baby. _Look!_"

She removed her hands from her face and stared at them with her one good eye. The rinne sharingan shone brightly at them, full tomes on every ring.

"This makes me the strongest shinobi in the village! See? I'm already better than you, your dad, or any of the Gokage in the world! This is the ultimate dojutsu! See, Bolt?! Watch! Watch what I can do!"

"Sarada! Stop being an idiot! I'm not trying to compete with you right now! This is a matter of life or death!"

"Shut up! You're always saying that! Just because I'm a girl I'm no good?! You're just in denial!" She laughed, "You think you're special just because you're the son of the Seventh?! You don't know the first thing about being a shinobi! _My _dad taught me what it was all about! My dad—!"

She stopped mid-sentence, putting her hand over her mouth. Vomit spilled from her nose and into her hand, making a mess of the street in front of her and sending her to her hands and knees. Suddenly she became a lot more timid.

"My—My glasses... Where are my glasses…? I can't see." She rummaged around, accidentally placing her hands in her own bile. "B-Bolt… I don't feel so good."

"Sarada-chan?" Himawari said in a trembling voice, inching her way closer, "Are you okay? Can you stand?"

Sarada waved her away, "I need my glasses, I need my… I need my…"

Her hands gave way and she planted her face in the bile next.

"Sarada!" Bolt exclaimed, rushing to her side. He turned her over, chunks and all on her face. Her skin looked so pale it was transparent, and all her veins were visible.

"Bolt… kun… I think… I need help…" she murmured. Bolt froze. He didn't know what to do.

"H-Hime-chan?" Bolt said, giving her his worried look expectantly, "C-Can you…?"

"I don't know how!" she cried, "Mom never trained me in medicine!"

"We need to do something! We need a doctor!"

"Then let's carry her to the village! All the doctors are there!"

Bolt switched back to Sarada. "You hear that? Just hand in there, Sarada-chan, we're gonna get you—"

Before he knew what was going on, a low, animalistic growl emitted from her throat. Suddenly, her skin's pigment became an unnatural color. Her body lurched in front of him and he heard the bones inside her body crack. Bolt jumped back and Himawari let out a loud squeal. Her skin looked as if it were moving on its own.

"Bolt… kun…!" she begged, reaching out to him with a bestial hand outstretched for him. "Help… me…!"

The two of them shook in place, just staring at her body as it mutated in front of them.

"Bolt-nii, I'm scared," Himawari said, "Sarada-chan is…"

"Just don't look, Hime! Cover your eyes!"

Sarada's heels grew into animal joints and her toes sprouted talons. Tribal markings appeared all over her face, and her body continued to twist and contort with all the sickening sounds of fracturing bones and muscle tearing that filled their vision with terror.

"Bolt-nii," Himawari cried, tears streaming down from behind Bolt's hands as he covered her eyes. He couldn't think of anything to do except watch in terror.

"_Bolt!" _came a voice from a distance, _"Use the necklace! Quickly!"_

An abrupt revelation sounded off in Bolt's mind, and he quickly uncovered Himawari's eyes to perform hand seals. "Oh god, please work," he pleaded. A light shone through the cracks of the First Hokage's necklace where it had been resealed, but not completely restored. Wild markings appeared all over Bolt's body, glowing a bright, ember red. Suddenly, cracks opened up in the pavement around Sarada where small roots rapidly grew out of and entwined her until it was almost cocoon-like.

Her violent metamorphosis came to a rapid halt, and the roots became illuminant with chakra.

"Bolt… kun…" Sarada murmured beneath the mass of shrubbery.

Bolt wore a nervous smile and panted heavily, sweat trickling down his brow.

"Bolt-nii, you did it," said Himawari, wiping the tears from her eyes.

A group of shinobi skidded to a halt right next to them. Shino, Choji, Shikamaru, Kakashi, and Naruto all gathered behind them with worried sick expressions on their face.

"Are you glad I exchanged that necklace of yours for this 'shitty piece of jewelry' now?" Naruto asked.

Bolt sniffled and nodded at him. "I can't believe it actually worked."

"Of course. Your dad's smart," said Naruto, flexing his bandaged arm. He glanced over to Sarada, lying in the mess of plants on the ground just ahead. "Oh god, is that Sarada?"

Bolt nodded again, his lip trembling, "I don't know what happened to her. She just… !"

Naruto pinched his nose between his fingers. "The Tengu Blood. I knew Sakura's antibody wasn't going to last, but I didn't think it would be this soon. But if Sarada is already like this, then that means…"

The ground shook beneath them like an earthquake, causing all of them to temporarily lose balance. Way off in the distance, the Kage building started sinking and toppling over in a massive cloud of destruction.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed, "Kakashi! Take the kids and the rest to safety! Shikamaru, come with me!" Naruto already vanished, heading the way to where Sakura and the destruction was being held.

"Wait for a second, damn!" said Shikamaru, preparing to flicker-step his way there as well, but then he stopped in his tracks at the sight of something. Another group had made its way to the area. One much more malevolent and bloodthirsty than the last.

"Goddamn, did Jashin's tengu do this?"

Out from the blue, a large group made up of at least twenty hooded figures came strolling down the street. All of them had the symbol of Jashin on the front of their black robes. One carried a thick chain latched onto a seemingly domesticated, giant creature in the very back of the group. It had a crooked red beak and beady yellow eyes. To those who could tell, it was unmistakably a Tengu beast.

And at the head of the group, the garbed figure who spoke out first held in his hands a giant triple scythe.

"I came out from beneath the city to see what the hell all the commotion was about, and frankly because our homes were getting wrecked. Now that I see it, it's fuckin' _beautiful!_"

He spoke in a slightly robotic tone through a ventilation device attached to the red robotic mask on his face. The horizontal rectangular visor that acted as his eyesight beeped back and forth like it was constantly scanning his field of vision.

"You…. impossible… you're…" Shikamaru stammered. His whole body began to shake at the sight of the man with the triple scythe.

"Oh. Long time no see, fucknut." He laughed, and it sent a shiver down everyone's spine.

"Shikamaru, go follow Naruto!" Kakashi ordered, "I'll handle this."

Shikamaru clenched his teeth at the thought of leaving the area with the others, but he knew Naruto would need him more, so he bitterly resigned to Kakashi's orders.

"Kakashi-sensei, _run _if you have to. Don't fight this lunatic."

"I'll be fine. You just go." With that, Shikamaru left to follow Naruto towards the other end of town.

Once Shikamaru left, Kakashi made a handseal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." Producing at least twenty to match the group blow for blow, every one of his clones activated the chidori in their right hands.

"Choji! Shino! Take the kids and leave!"

The man with the triple-scythe held his hands up as a passive gesture. "Hold on, hold on, don't jump the fuckin' gun just yet! We're just making our way to the surface to look for something!"

"You won't find it here," Kakashi told him, darkly.

"Well ain't that some shit," he laughed, "But I was actually looking for a little personal something myself, and I figured, since I have you assfucks here now, I might as well ask."

He handed the triple-scythe off to one of the cloaked men at his side to free both his hands. Then, he took the sides of his red metal mask and clicked a pair of buttons on either side, depressurizing it from the sound of the hissing. Then he lifted it and let it hang off the hinges it attached to following a more elaborate device underneath his cloak.

And the least expected face appeared behind it. Eyes as lifeless as a dead fish, blood dripping from his lips that had dried up a long time ago, Kiba's dead head, torn face in all its zombified glory,hung off sloppily sown stitches that attached it to the bizarre man's neck. The lips did not move, but his words came out as crystal clear as if it were coming from them anyways.

"**Do you fucknuts mind telling me where you buried my head?"**

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Sakura pounded away at Sasuke's body, blind by her explosive fury. The crater grew bigger and deeper with every punch, causing fissures to snake their way from under the impact out into the city.

Naruto had made it just in time to do an immediate Shadow Clone Jutsu, creating at least ten thousand, half with which to latch onto each other and create a giant net with which to catch the buildings that were going to fall onto Sakura and Sasuke, the other half with which to try and control Sakura with. The clones in the latter were not being as successful with their endeavor.

"GET THE CITIZENS OUT OF HERE!" he screamed at passing ANBU corps, "GET THEM TO SAFETY!"

Rubble spilled past the Uzumaki net and fell into the crater along with crumbling wreckage and enough dust to choke on. Naruto clones jumped on her left and right, but she threw them off just as quickly and easily, tossing those on her back with her draw fists and pummeling those in front of her into the dirt or onto Sasuke. Some tried to pull him away and subdue her at the same time, but one lash would rocket them into another direction and she would just pull Sasuke back by his leg, her devastating punches not hindered in the slightest by any attempt.

"_SAKURA-CHAN! STOP! YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" _Naruto shrieked, "_SAKURAAAAAAAA!" _Finally, once the buildings tumbled down the Uzumaki net to the side, they all unlatched themselves and fell, piling on top of her at the same time in one last attempt, While it seemed to stop her for a moment, one uppercut from her fist sent a hundred Naruto's flying all at the same time. She continued to pound away for a moment until her fist suddenly stopped mid-punch. A shadow needle had pierced her arm, restricting its movements. Suddenly, a hundred more tiny, needle like shadows pierced her arms. She fought against it fiercely, feeling the body attached to the shadow that attacked.

She slowly turned around to face Shikamaru. He struggled to hold the Shadow Sewing Technique that pinned her down with no more light than a candle by his side. She growled in the most poisonous tone she could muster through her teeth.

"_**You… let… go… NOW." **_

The force of her muscle overwhelmed Shikamaru and the technique broke, cracking the bones in the fingers he held up to make the seal for the jutsu, and he fumbled backwards. Once she was free, she finally turned to focus all her chakra in her fist and land one final blow to Sasuke's head with a defining _crunch._

Before:

The fog cleared on the bridge. The Devil of the Hidden Mist had been defeated, taking with him the head of Gato the of the evil mafia syndicate behind the shipping magnate of the Land of Waves. His death and the death of the dreamless masked boy by his side turned into a tragedy, but a story for the ages. Tears of the compassionate had moved this act to a heartbreaking close, and in turn moved everyone to tears.

Sakura wept silently over Sasuke's motionless body. Her heart broke into little pieces over the love of her life, dying unfairly, body full of needles.

"You're… heavy…" said Sasuke's lifeless body.

Sakura shot up. Sasuke looked at her through half opened eyes. He _wasn't _dead! He had survived! Her chest swelled with happiness, overtaken by her emotions, she mindlessly hugged him without regard to the weapons still lodged in his body.

"I'm so glad you're not dead!" she happily moped.

"Of course not. I won't die until I achieve my dream."

Sakura stared at him with a smile. Happy that she was, something was off.

"Your dream for revenge, right? You said before. It's kinda cool and mysterious. Just another part I like about you," she teased, winking.

"Do you have a dream, Sakura?"

Her smile faded instantly. Something was definitely not right. "W-Why would you ask that? Don't you remember what my dream was?" This was not how she remembered.

"Yes, I remember. Your dream was like that dead boy over there."

The sound of rattles shook in her ears. She turned to face Haku, lying on his back, face kicked towards her. His dead lips moved as if they were talking to her. "I want to fulfill Zabuza's dream. That is my dream. For that, I will become a shinobi."

Sakura yanked Sasuke's shirt and gnashed her teeth at him. "Don't you _dare _belittle Haku's dream! He had compassion! A _heart!_"

"He was glad to be used."

Sakura's hands were shaking now. Her undying love quickly morphed into intense loathing.

"What a shame. So you don't have a dream," Sasuke smirked, "And yet, you're so willing to be used. Like a tool. That's just… too sad."

Sakura pulled her fist back without thinking and beat Sasuke's face. Once, twice, three times, until it turned into a bloody pulp. The bridge was empty except for him, her, and her brutality. She kept pounding into his face until the bloody smile he wore became unrecognizable. And she continued to beat on him mercilessly, without stopping.

_In the world of shinobi there are those who use and those who are used. We shinobi are simply tools._

_That fact will never change._

_Ever._

After:

Sakura gasped for breath when she came to. Her body wouldn't move. Every inch of her body was sore.

In front of her was the curb of cracked pavement. Rubble littered her vision.

Slowly, she picked her arm up from the ground. Her fist had sunken six inches deep into whatever pile of wreckage or dirt it was driven into. Pulling it out, however, caused it to make a strange mushing sound.

She stared at her arms. They shook against her will. Blood covered every inch of it. From her wrists, to her palm, to her fingers and her… claws? Not nails, not rounded, skin tips. But sharp, dagger-like claws.

Her reaction was to gasp, but she had a difficult time moving air past her teeth. Feeling them with her bloodied claws, they were alien to her. Longer, jagged, uneven. _A second row. _

She felt the rest of her face on instinct. Her skin felt rough. Her eyes felt hot. Her forehead… had _horns _ growing out of it, one two inches longer than the other.

She smeared the blood on her hands all over her face. What was happening to her? Why was she covered in so much blood. Where was Sasuke?

Then she recognized the feel of a body between her legs. A cold body.

Her eyes fell on the most horrifying image she would come to see for the remainder of her life. It all came back in an instant. The sorrow. The rage. The violence.

Sasuke's headless body laid spread eagle before her, a pile of bloody brains and skull fragments splattered ten feet past his neck.

The sound of two dozen sirens firing off at the same time all around her coupled with the crackling of flames from the massive blaze set across the half destroyed city surrounded her. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing would come out.

A beaten and shocked Naruto stood behind her, along with a shaken but angry Shikamaru, who walked up to her, snapping his fingers back into place and casting a shadow binding jutsu over her wrists.

"Sakura Haruno. You're under arrest_._"

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

A/N:

This is the part where you're either going to drop this badfic entirely or I maybe possibly garnered your attention enough to properly suspend your disbelief. Hopefully.

Either way, can we talk about how _smashing _that ending was? :D

Pleasestaydon'tgopleaseIswearI'llnevermakeanotherjokelikethatagainIpromise.

But seriously. I've had this idea in the works for the past couple of weeks, and as you can tell it was a pain in the ASS getting this all written before I could post it. I could have probably made this into like, two, three chapters. But I wanted the full effect. So IF YOU LASTED THIS LONG, then you have my sincere gratitude and appreciation. Clearly you can look past the fact that I'm crazy. That's all good.

Thing is, while this may not exactly be what a lot of NS fans are looking for in the way of a "better ending" to the Naruto manga, my goal here was to take what you THINK you like, and turn it into something you never knew you wanted. : )

My goal here isn't to write a story of redemption for Sakura, if you haven't caught on with the last two chapters. My goal here is to play upon the blank slate that her character truly is, or SHOW you what a blank slate she is in the manga with my writing, if you're not convinced. What I want to do for you is not redeem her character, but create a more powerful Sakura Haruno. A well developed Sakura Haruno. A beautifully horrifying Sakura Haruno. And this is just the beginning. I've got a whole novel level plan (considering the way I write this crap) for Sakura Haruno herself.

The question that remains now is… are you in for the ride? ;)

But, wait, before you answer that, I have a quick heads up to give you. Due to the fact that the main course of my little brainbunny barrage for this fanfic has now been written, I a). Need to do some more brainstorming for the next chapter or so to properly develop and connect the plot points I want to write about next with the current events that have been written, and b). Focus on my other writing projects at the time being. Between that, university, work, and personal responsibilities, fleshing out a story at any level gets tight. So I'm gonna take a little itty bitty break, I'm sure you won't even notice I'm gone. Or maybe you will, I'm just banking on the fact that half the fanfics you people read you normally wait months at a time for. Basically what I'm saying is that the next chapter probably won't be up until sometime next month, that's all.

Also, a few things you MIGHT want answered before, you know, I explain it in the plot. The whole, "Bolt—Wood Release Jutsu" thing is intentional. Before you ask, I'm going to mention that, if you catch it while reading, you'll notice the reference to Naruto's Senju arm made from Hashirama's cells. That, coupled with recollecting and somewhat fixing the First Hokage's necklace as a medium, and you have a perfect unorthodox method (kind of like Yamato being a clone *SPOILERS*) for Bolt to become the next Hashirama himself! Yes, you heard it from the horse's mouth, that's the plan (for now). Should be obvious anyways.

At any rate, I'm going to take this opportunity to shamelessly self-plug and refer you to the link I will be posting in my bio once I update it, if you are interested in my writing at any level and are curious to see what an original fiction by me reads like. I dunno, I might post it here at some point in my life, too. I certainly plan to post this little project over there pretty soon.

Anyways, I promise this'll be the last author's note, too, I know you guys don't care for them all that much and frankly, my fingers are getting cramped.

So, until next chapter. :)


	4. Chapter 4: The Fall (Part 1)

After:

_Fuck this. _

Those two words ran through Sakura's head over and over and over. The dizzying helplessness of confusion. The sadistic heckling at the slightest suggestion of empathy. The voices that haunted her, filling her chest with seething hatred, the heat of loathing slowing rising from it and cooking her thoughts into a despotic pitch of wrath. They picked and prodded at her sorrow, like it made her some sort of _freak_.

Well, she certainly was a freak now.

"B-Blease, Sagura-saba, dob't do dis," said a beaten and battered Moegi. Tears ran down the purple, golf ball sized bruises on her face, mixing with the blood running from her broken nose.

"**Shut up, traitor,"** she hissed. Multiple variably pitched layers simultaneously reverberated from the mutated vocal chords in her throat when she spoke, her breath like a hot clutch down Moegi's neck, threatening to rip her spine out at the slightest resistance.

Sakura's boney hands wrapped themselves around her hair, pulling her up off the rock by her head as the rest of her injured body hung from her neck. Moegi's blood drenched limbs swung loosely like a ragdoll's. Multiple kunai stuck out of her shoulders and kneecaps, rendering them unusable.

"**Look at her," **Sakura spat, turning Moegi's head over to the crumpled mass of red brick-red flesh. Sarada laid very still on the rock next to them. Her chest rose and sank very slowly, indicating there was still life, if very little, left in her body. Her overgrown hair covered her face and tangled itself around her nightmarishly transfigured body. Bushels of splintered bone stuck out of every joint on her body. Blood covered her body, easily contrasting her dark red pigment with its bright wet shine. _**"This is all your fault. **_**Had I known, **_**had I fucking known, **_**I would have ripped you into little pieces on **_**sight.**_**"**

Sakura's claws dug into Moegi's skin, causing blood to stream down her face and into her eyes.

"**Now look at me—**_**Look at me." **_Sakura bend Moegi's neck backwards so that she was staring up into the face of damnation, the visage of a woman long past saving. Her piercing, yellow eyeballs traced every browbeaten feature on Moegi, drowning her in the bloodlust they spilled onto her face from their near lethal eye contact.

Sweat and dirt covered her face, strands of dirty pink hair sticking to her forehead like wet seaweed. Black throbbing veins pulsated across her pale features, branching out from the diamond seal on her forehead, dyed just as black. The veins spreading down were ominously symmetrical, as if replacing the tribal markings that usually inked her face upon the seals release. She bore her fanged, animalistic teeth at her; mouth somewhere between a maniacal grin and a disgusted grimace.

"**Quit bawling," **she scathingly scolded,** "Die like the warrior you're supposed to be."**

Moegi's breathing became erratic, short gasps fighting through snot filled sniffles and woeful moans. "B-Blease, Sakura-saba, I swear I'll fix id, I'll do anything you say, blease!"

Ignoring Moegi's pleas for mercy, Sakura pulled a very long, very large kunai out from the back of her belt. One side of its edge was rusty and saw-toothed, meant to cut through bone. She put it up against Moegi's neck, letting the edge very lightly bite into her flesh just underneath her chin, and, with her eyes fixated on the blade, her cries rose into unintelligible wailing for fear of her life.

"SAKURA!"

Naruto, along with every other ninja of the hidden leaf, including civilians, stared up at Sakura from the village. She looked back down at them from the top of the Tsunade mold on the Kage mountain, her eyes filled with spiteful malcontent for them.

"LET HER GO!" he shouted at her. "DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

Sakura's grimace turned into a sickeningly sweet grin, stretching from ear to ear, eyes fixated solely on him.

"**I hear you, Naruto," **she said. An explosion roared behind her from the crumbling city behind her. Fire engulfed every building, lighting the night sky like the setting sun against the horizon. With her kunai hand stretched out wide, standing tall in front of the backdrop of an enormous city set a blaze, she filled her lungs with air and held Moegi up high for the whole village to see.

"**KONOHAAAAAAAAHH!" **she shouted with all her might, **"HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE PROUD TO BE A PART OF THIS MAGNIFICENT COUNTRY OF OURS? THIS EMPIRE THAT WE HAVE SPILLED ENDLESS BLOOD FOR? THE FIRE WE HAVE BAPTIZED OURSELVES IN; THE SYMBOL THAT COUNTLESS MEN AND WOMEN ALIKE HAVE DIED TO PROTECT?"**

The crowd below stood silent. Sakura patiently waited for an answer, eyes carefully examining each and every body below.

"**You might think that you're united, standing together the way you are. As if you're standing up for yourself-as if you stand for **_**anything**_** anymore. But you know what I see when I look at you? A hive mind of **_**hypocrisy**_** and **_**ignorance**_**. LOOK AROUND YOU!" **She waved her kunai to the crumbling building of flames behind her. **"Does this look like the country you wanted? Does this look like PEACE?! WE'VE DEGENERATED! WE'RE PATHETIC! WE'RE WEAK!"**

"You're wrong!"

Sakura's eyes bolted towards the voice of the offender. Hinata stood, fists clenched, lips pursed, eyes full of anger. "Naruto made this country better! It's thanks to him we can all live happily!"

Sakura mouth hung open slightly, smiling ironically, holding back a fit of laughs. **"Oh, I bet you're happy. I bet you're **_**real**_** fuckin' happy. I'm tempted to drop my kunai just to start a slow clap for you. What a fuckin' accomplishment! The pathetic head of the Main Branch has finally brought honor to her clan by marrying the Hokage! Congratulations, bitch, you've finally done something right!"**

"SAKURA!" Naruto screamed, "I _will _come up there!"

"**Oh, shut the fuck up, **_**Hokage-sama.**_** This is all your fault! Don't you get it yet? Your peace is **_**fake. **_**While you're tiptoeing around conflict for the sake of your precious democracy, we have scum infiltrating our weaknesses," **said Sakura, holding Moegi up and pointing at her with the kunai,** "tearing us apart from the inside out! What are you **_**doing?**_** Industrialization? Diplomacy? What are we, a bunch of fucking brainless cattle? WE ARE SHINOBI! We are bread as warriors that fight for our country, tooth and nail, to the death! You and your peace have done nothing but take away from us **_**who we are.**_** This country has the veil pulled over its eyes, like it's still under the fucking Infinite Tskuyomi!"**

"Is it a crime to be happy?!" cried another shinobi, Temari this time, "Are you telling me we should be ashamed to have lived our lives without worry or fear?"

"**No, no, no, that's not what I'm saying at all," **Sakura coyly smiled, **"I'm saying you should be ashamed to have **_**thought**_** you could have lived that way."**

"I bet you are," Temari shot back, "Look at you! Look at the way you're acting! Just admit it—you're like this because you're unhappy!"

Sakura's eyes darkened, but her smile persisted, and she felt the need to chuckle slightly. **"Yeah. You're right. I was unhappy. I was unhappy for thirteen years. But now my eyes are open—I can see now! I finally get it all! And you're right, I'm ashamed! I'm ashamed I lived for the sake of a childish dream and a future that I made up in my mind!" **The grin on her face didn't hold out against her trembling lips and slightly watered eyes. Her breathing became slow and heavy.** "But I have a child now. And everything is so **_**different. **_**It's not what I thought it would be. I never even thought I'd have a child… it was always just… **_**him**_**… But she's my child, I don't care what anyone says. And I love her. I want to raise her to be ready for anything. Even… even to kill without a conscious."**

"NO!" Naruto shouted, "That's not the world I want my children to grow up in, Sakura! You're a mother, dammit! Think about what's right for her!"

A well of fury bellowed in Sakura's chest as she directed her attention to Naruto again. **"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU KIDDING?!" **She screamed, veins in her neck throbbing, "**WE STAND TO THE SIDE WATCHING OUR CHILDREN TRY TO KILL EACH OTHER TO CONSIDER THEM FOR A FUCKING PROMOTION IN RANK! THIS IS NOT! FUCKING! PEACE!" **With the last syllable she shouted, her foot stomped the mountain and sent a large crack down the mold of the Fifth, loosening a large chunk of its face and sending it tumbling to the ground. **"We all had goals! Desires! Dreams! Dreams we could only accomplish as shinobis! We used to all have something to fight for! But everyone who's had a dream ended up sacrificing it… for **_**yours**_**."**

"You're full of shit!" Ino shouted at her, stepping forward from the crowd, "I'm happy! My dreams came true!"

"**Oh did they?" **Sakura goaded, **"Well congratulations on running a flower shop; selling flowers for the rest of your life sounds very fulfilling. Are the rest of you so content with your lives? How about you TenTen? How's that weapons shop holding up? Are you living the dream?"**

"That's none of your business," TenTen growled.

"**Last I heard was that your business was failing. You wanted to sell weapons in a time of peace, did you? You thought that was smart? Even though it was on the verge of shutting down and because of that your father's home is facing foreclosure? Am I wrong?"**

"I said that was none of your business!"

"**You don't **_**have **_**a business anymore, TenTen! It's dead! Your dream is dead! Your **_**life **_**is over! Every day you opened that shop you did nothing but gaze at the sky all day and daydream because all your dreams were floating on clouds out of your reach! It's because your were all just so **_**content**_**. And look at what it's turned you into." **She used her kunai to point accusingly at Temari, Hinata, TenTen, and Ino respectively. **"Housewife, housewife, housewife, **_**pathetic fucking housewife**_**. That's all any of you are anymore. This is what peace has done to you. You all used to be something. Now you can all do what you do best these days while I do what has to be done. **_**You can all stand there and watch.**_**"**

The kunai in her hand slowly approached Moegi's throat again, and her unintelligible wailing reached a pitch as high as a steaming kettle. She struggled as much as she could, flopping her disabled arms as much as she could under the iron grip Sakura had on her head.

"SAKURA! SAKURA-CHAN, STOP!" Naruto screamed, and his feet moved on their own, dashing at his top speed toward the top of the monument at Sakura and Moegi. The rest of the ninja followed behind at their own speeds, reacting to Naruto's leadership. Sakura watched his desperate shape fluctuate under the high speeds towards her, her breath skipping as her emotions faded beneath the final draw of recovery she pulled into her lungs, suddenly dropping the respite she had in the heat of the moment where she stood, somewhere between the blazing city behind her and Naruto's desperate attempt to reach out for her.

She smiled at him. As fast as he was it was as if he were moving in slow motion. It moved what was left of her broken heart. And at the same time it kindled the passionate flame that had moved her to such an irredeemable extreme. The words slowly dripped from her lips like poisonous honey.

"**I will not be a dreamless tool."**

"Helb me!Pleashe!_ Pleashe! No! Sagura-saba! Shtoooop! Shtoooo-!"_

_Slice._

A second too late, the swift motion of her kunai washed silenced over the mountaintop. Blood ominously streamed down the rock onto the village grounds, saturating the soil with its sinful luster.

The calm of this action's finality brought to light just what hell would be wrought in the moment to follow, and just how cursed the crumbling City of Dancing leaves would be from that point on—all before the sun rose on the scene of the longest night in Konohagaru's history.

24 Hours Before:

Fog rolled in from the underbelly of the City of Dancing leaves, deep within the sewers. It crept down the streets, rolling around every dark corner of each abandoned block. The maze-like twists and turns of the dark city became all the more menacing with the last few lights illuminating the street flickering in the dark.

Past the dozen of ramen shops set up at the zero level of each building, through the retail stores and office buildings that made up the structure of the city's being, its economy and its life, death crept through the dark allies, hiding in the fog and shadows. Its mysterious robes kept its intentions as well as its figure shrouded in mystery. It had a target. One glowing eye underneath its hood, it waited for its chance to take action, or report back to its master.

It stood back from the scene of the wreckage, easily able to hide its presence behind the rubble of the four toppled buildings. The target hid within the deep crater, unable to control her animalistic tendencies. Now would be the worst time to try and subdue her. But patience was a virtue. Time was on his side, and soon, his moment would come. But for now, patience…

Shikamaru flew from the crater into a pile of rubble, a cloud of dust pluming above his head. Tentatively, he pulled himself out of the pile, rubbing his bleeding forehead.

"Shit, this really isn't worth the trouble," he muttered to himself.

Naruto stayed it the crater, growling and roaring as the two of them pounded away at each other. Suddenly, he flew out of the crater after Shikamaru, landing right next to him.

"Naruto? Are you alright?" Shikamaru asked.

"Shut up, Shikamaru…" Naruto growled, pushing his way out of the rubble.

"Right, sorry. I'd lose my composure in your shoes as well… Both your teammates just…"

"_Not both of them!" _ Naruto shouted, "Sakura is still in there somewhere, she just—"

An attack ripped from the edge of the crater by five large slimy pink tentacles with jagged claw-like hooks at the end of them. Shikamaru ducked and Naruto tilted his head to the side, dodging the hooks that targeted them as they brushed past their bodies and explosively railed the rubble pile behind them.

Neither of them moved, for fear of being detected by the monstrosity.

"_**Leave me alone…" **_growled a voice from deep inside the crater as the tentacles were slowly dragged back into it.

Naruto's body slowly morphed into "kyuubi" mode, with his teeth sharpening and his pupils becoming red slits. His chakra wasn't being filtered properly with the other tailed beast's chakra like he normally would when entering Six Paths Sage mode. The last decade Kurama had been sleeping had made Naruto rusty with his chakra combination techniques, that much was certain. It was like seeing the old Naruto again, the one that wore his bleeding heart on his sleeve when everyone else would hide their true feelings. It made Shikamaru feel a strange mixture of warmth and anxiety.

"Any way you cut it, Naruto… that's not her down there. She's not even recognizable anymore… Oy, are you listening?"

Naruto walked up to the edge of the crater, fangs out, claws at the ready. He took a deep breath and swallowed. Shikamaru watched him mentally prepare himself. He could still hear Naruto screaming bloody murder as a deformed Sakura beat Sasuke into a gory mess. Shikamaru could see his body clearly shaking with anger, fear, sorrow, and a wealth of negative emotion as he tried to suppress it all in order to revisit the pit he watched his despair come to life in.

He stopped shaking and looked down. "Sakura-chan…" he whispered.

"**Don't… LOOK AT ME!" **shouted the monster in the pit, and the large hooked tentacles thrashed out at him again. A millisecond before they could slaughter him, he took a taijutsu stance similar to Rock Lee, pivoted to the left on his back foot and fanned both his arms over his head faster than Shikamaru's eyes could follow, catching all five tentacles underneath his arm at once. A scream emanated from the bottom of the pit, and Naruto yanked on the long, slimy arms with all his might pulling the source from out of the pit and slamming it into the ground in front of him.

The creature at the end of the tentacles thrashed and squirmed about. Naruto flash-stepped towards it and punched it's head into the pavement, rendering it unconscious. He shook his hand for relief. "Check her skull for fractures. I think I punched her horn."

Shikamaru bent over to her still frame and closely inspected her. He remembered the way she looked at him when he went to arrest her. As if she were in a never ending nightmare and begging him to wake her up. Her scream filled his head just as much as Naruto's. Her blood curdling screams as well as the blood thirsty ones that suddenly came after. The tentacles slowly retracted back onto her hand as her fingers. Her body's shape hadn't so much changed as had the pigment and her eye color—grey skinned from head to toe and her eyes black as coal, save for her red pupil.

He inspected her skull. Naruto hit her fairly hard, but it wasn't surprising that she didn't have and cracks on her skull as far as he could tell. The feeling of something crackling beneath her skin took him by surprise, however. He checked her heart-beat—it was beating in overtime.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru called, "Naruto!"

Naruto sat cross legged twenty feet away from them, picking up one brick after the other and crushing them in his hands.

"Naruto?" Shikamaru called, walking up to him. He sat silently with his back to Shikamaru.

"Fuck…" he murmured, "Fucking shit…" Another brick in his right hand, crushed, the sediment crumbling between his fingers onto the ground.

"Are… are you alright Naruto?"

"Shikamaru… Just… What the fuck just happened?"

Shikamaru sighed. "I… I don't know. I'm sorry, man."

"I didn't see this coming at all… I… Dammit, I can't do this… I thought I could, but…"

Shikamaru crossed his arms, resting an elbow on his hand and his other hand pinching the bridge of his nose. Naruto just sat, crushing bricks. So many things have gone wrong in so little time. What else was there to do? The entire city wasn't even evacuated yet… there were already so many casualties.

He looked over to the mutant Sakura lying unconscious on the ground. Her foot twitched with the sound of a cracking bone that could be heard from where he stood. What else could they do?

"I think… I think we need to put her out of her misery…"

His words clearly provoked Naruto into standing. He quietly stared at Shikamaru with disdain. Shikamaru looked back at him as if to say he were sorry for his words.

"Naruto," Shikamaru replied, "There's no cure for the Tengu blood, you know that. We can't let her turn into one of those things."

"Don't make me hit you," Naruto growled.

Another loud crack rang from the unconscious body lying on the ground, followed by a loud squeal of pain. They both stared at it, and Shikamaru took out his kunai.

Quicker than a flash, Naruto stepped in front of him. _"Don't."_

"Naruto, if we don't she'll come back as a monstrosity that's unaffected by any kind of justu. Even the strongest of shinobi will be weak against one of those things. It's a miracle she's lasting this long to begin with."

"Sakura is still there deep down inside, Shikamaru, I can feel it. She's fighting for control."

"It's not a matter of willpower, Naruto. Even Sakura knows that."

"She's the greatest goddamn medical nin in the whole goddamn world, a stupid bio-mutation drug isn't going to take her over mentally or physically. Just believe in her."

Shikamaru looked past Naruto's shoulder. Sakura's pink hair covered her eyes, so he couldn't see if they were open or closed. But she was laying still again, no arching pain, no cracking bones.

"There's this thing Sakura was talking about, some sort of medical term in her notes that stated how long the effects of the drug could be warded off or something…"

"Remission?"

"Right, that's the one. She had personal notes that stated that the Strength of a Hundred technique diminished the effects of the drug—unlike any other drug which it would completely nullify. But that's about the extent of how much she has written. Aside from that, she has to constantly keep the techniques seal active in order to constantly ward off its effects. That's what she's doing now. The seal on her forehead is gone and the effects of fighting the drug must be messing with the pigment of her skin right now. And she has at least three years' worth of chakra stored up, so…"

Shikamaru pulled a cigarette out and lit it while he was talking. "I already did the math, Naruto. Three years' worth of chakra reserves constantly being put to use on an active seal for the Strength of a Hundred Technique equals roughly twenty-four hours. That's all the time she has before it wears off and the Tengu blood consumes her."

Naruto stared at him in disbelief. "What? You're kidding, right?"

"'Fraid not. That's just a guestimate, as well. We don't know how aggressive the Tengu blood is gonna be with here, we don't know what other factors could play a part in accelerating or decelerating the process. That's why I say—"

"Twenty-four hours," Naruto argued.

Shikamaru gave him a blank stare. "Naruto, I can't—"

"As your Hokage, I am ordering you to wait twenty-four hours before taking action."

He shot Naruto an irritant glare. He knew how Shikamaru felt about him playing the power card.

"Please."

Shikamaru sighed. "As you command, Hokage-sama. We'll wait twenty-four hours to see if her status recovers any. But if it doesn't—"

Naruto and Shikamaru looked back at Sakura's still, unconscious body.

"—You know what you have to do."

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A/N:

Wake up. Brush teeth. Get dressed. Go to work. Push carts for eight hours. Come home. Walk dog. Eat food. Shower. Text girlfriend who lives 500 miles away for an hour. Sleep. Repeat.

That's pretty much my life on a day to day basis, bar my days of that consist of nothing but school stuff, so yeah. Not that it matters, you're here for the fanfiction, I know. But aside from the fist fights, tucking and rolling from moving cars, runaway family members, visits from heart-crushing past flames, and teachers whose jobs it is to be so anal you could swim into their ass, it's always nice to break the monotony with a little me-time, and just write.

Too bad I can never get any freaking me-time.

On that note, I told myself if I couldn't get this out for new year's day at the latest I have no business writing.

No, it's not New Year's Day anymore, it's like 1:30 in the morning right now, an hour and a half past NYD. I'm writing anyways, sue me.

At any rate, 2014 is gonna be a forgettable year for me. Or maybe it'll be one of those painful years that I'll never be able to get out of my memory, I dunno.

But, it's a new year and a new day! I get the feeling that 2015 will be a great year! :D I hope. *knocks on wood*

Anyways, I would like to welcome you all to my very first story arc! This is part 1 of a ? part arc that will revolve around the slowly crumbling City of Dancing Leaves as well as it's "mysterious underbelly." We're gonna go on an adventure, friends! You and me are gonna explore every inch of the city in its continuously eroding state-until we come full circle again. We'll meet bad guys, good guys, old characters, and who knows? Maybe even some new… ;) But in the end, it's all about the full effect and the plot that's been set in motion. And boy, do I have a plot.

Since I've been gone, I've been thinking about where else I want to take this series after I complete this arc. There've been a LOT of issues that I was trying to workshop in my mind so that I could take this series where I want it to go without using cheap, cliché plot devices like "character deaths" or stupid stuff like that. No. I'm not creating another Neji. Every character deserves good development.

Readers: *cough*WhataboutSasuke*cough*

Ahaaaaaa. I did go a little crazy with that guy, didn't I? ^_^;;

Yeah. I hate him. Sorry guys.

BUT, that doesn't mean I'm going to let his character go to waste! Nope, like an auto-mechanic that's good with spare parts, I have a plan for him and his body as well. You'll see. ;)

Anyways, I guess that pretty much discloses everything about my fanfiction. I'll be posting as often as I can, too, no worries.

I'm back, bitcheeeeeeesss. :P

Reader: *cough*Youalsosaidyouwouldn'tdoanymoreA/N's*cough*

I lied.

Musical selection for this chapter: "The Unthinking Majority"-Serj Tankian


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